Enemy Mine
by lavenderghost
Summary: Simba is alone in uncharted territory where everybody the great kings condemned or banished is sent. The only familiar faces are the trio of hyenas who still haunt Simba's dreams. However they may be willing to help him out for a favor. Can this unlikely alliance work together and maybe understand one another? Or will their history and differences split them up? Reviews welcome.
1. You need us

The king of the Pridelands was flanked by three lionesses, one of which was his mother Sarabi, as he closed in on the intruder. The sun setting from behind was appropriate hindering the vision of their hunted quarry. The crashing of the nearby waterfall provided the perfect cover for their approach, easily drowning out the soft steps of the group advancing towards the oblivious outlander. The outlander in question was excitedly hunting his own shadow, taunting its futile attempts to escape. Simba noticed an immediate resemblance to Scar. However aside from physical similarities in colouring and build the two were very different. While Scar had been reserved and scheming, this lion was loud and somewhat clumsy in his antics. He looked like he suffered from malnutrition. His whiskers zigzagged before drooping in a rather pathetic way and knotted patches of dirty black fur were forming around the neck and legs. Occasionally he'd stop his 'hunt' to scratch himself muttering about a large variety of parasites. Simba nodded at his mother to surround the young outlander. He was jumping around dangerously close to one of the many chasms in the region, this one held a raging river at the bottom. It simply made him easier to pin down so the Pridelanders only needed to form a semi-circular shape around him for a trap, there was also conveniently long grass surrounding him, allowing Simba and his lionesses to crawl unseen, ever closer. "Ha, thought you could get away did ya? Not from me, no. I'm the king. The rightful king of all this land." He informed his defeated shadow.

"Oh, really?" Simba asked emerging from the grass as his lionesses followed his lead. The runt screamed and muttered incoherent nonsense. "What are you doing here? Your people are exiled, in case you forgot."

"I didn't forget!" The outlander babbled.

"So you knew you weren't allowed here but still came?" Sarabi asked.

The outlander paused in thought. "I mean yes, I forgot. I'm sorry, I'll just let myself out now..."

Simba stomped his paw as the outlander turned to leave. "Who are you?"

"No one, really." He replied in a rush, all the while looking around for an exit.

"Nuka." Sarabi muttered under her breath. She turned to Simba to explain. "Scar's son." At these words Simba's blood boiled and his claws tensed. Nuka gave a nervous grin and a single long, revolting string of slobber dangled from his mouth. Letting aloud a thunderous roar Simba advanced towards his 'cousin' who panicked. He moved backwards in a mad scramble, towards the unforgiving chasm. The weak earth underneath him began to give way and Nuka froze.

"Look out." Simba yelled and instinctively ran forwards to pull him from danger. Simba's yell caught Nuka's attention but his intention was completely misunderstood. Believing it to be an attack rather than a rescue, Nuka dodged with speed that seemed unnatural for one so scrawny and gave Simba a solid swipe around the face knocking him off balance for when the ground caved in. A cry from his mother was all Simba heard as he tumbled into the water below. It was an echo of his father's murder, Scar's son had thrown him to his death. Friends and loved ones flashed before his eyes: Nala who would be left all alone, Mufasa, who he'd failed to live up to and Kiara who would know the unbearable pain of losing a parent so young. The sun setting was appropriate.

"C'mon Ed, get up." Shenzi growled. "Get up now or we'll leave you to rot." There was still no reaction from her friend.

"It's no good, Shenzi. He's really sick." Banzai had walked up next to her to look at Ed. He was no longer wearing his lopsided grin but his tongue was still poking out of his mouth and eyes still mismatched. He looked a sorry sight.

"The rest of you." Shenzi turned to the clan. "Where's his food? He needs to eat something and not fish." She gestured to the nearby river. The hyena clan was in a sheltered location. They'd moved from the elephant graveyard for fear of either the Pridelanders looking for revenge for their actions under Scar or from Scar's loyalists seeking vengeance against those who'd killed their leader. It was not a good social standing for the hyenas. Their current position was a rocky gap at the bottom of a cliff. It gave them shelter from wind and rain and a healthy supply of water from the river. The main problem was food. Fish was the only thing in good supply and that wasn't healthy for a hyena, they needed meat, real meat.

"There's nothing here." One of the males said. "This place is drier than the graveyard." Shenzi sighed, too distressed to be angry with the clan.

"Any idea what's wrong with him?" She asked Banzai.

"Me? How should I know... Maybe worms?" He replied.

"Ain't worms." She said putting her paw on Ed's forehead. "Worms don't make you burn up like that." Ed shuddered slightly and shut his eyes.

"Yeah, you sleep now, buddy." Banzai rubbed his snout against Ed softly. He turned to Shenzi. "We've gotta get help."

Shenzi snorted. "Anyone who's friendly enough to help is too dumb to help and anyone who's smart enough to help hates us. We're on our own."

"Then we force someone to help us." Banzai snarled. "Why don't we march into the Pridelands, find that magical healing monkey guy and drag him back here?"

"You lost me at 'march into the Pridelands'." She turned towards the river disheartened.

"We can't just stand by and watch him suffer. It's not like you to just give up." Banzai called after her.

"Who says I'm giving up?" She called back. "But the Pridelands is suicide, not only would we cross Simba's turf but we have to go through the outlands as well and if they know we killed Scar..." She shuddered. "At least Simba would be merciful. We won't help him by getting killed, Banzai."

"We won't help him by just standing around here either." He replied. Shenzi's temper snapped, just as she turned to shut Banzai up a young female called from down river.

"We've got something here, it's no fish, some kinda big mammal." the female, Aminah, dashed into view. Drifting down river after her was a corpse. A big one.

"Ho-boy. We're eating tonight, ladies and gentlemen." Shenzi called to her clan which cackled excitedly in response. The clan was dragging the corpse up to shore.

"It's a lion!" Aminah called back.

"Ew, I'm not eating one of them." Shenzi raised her eyebrows.

"But we can't just leave him lion there." Banzai cackled at his pun. "He will be just fine for the, eh, mane course."

"Shut up." She told him but her smile while she said it ruined any effect the order had. But as they approached the corpse it looked somewhat familiar.

"Hey isn't that..."

"Wait is this..."

"Simba!" They said in unison. They exchanged surprised looks, which quickly gave way to devilish smiles. But then the lion spluttered sending a fountain like spray of water from his mouth.

"Oh God, he's alive." Banzai screamed and scrambled away, as did about half the clan. Shenzi, Aminah and a few others stood their ground. Simba's eyes sprung open and for the briefest of moments there was a fear in his eyes no different to the time he'd been chased through the graveyard by the very same being in front of him now. He leapt to his feet and roared but it was clear he was weak and confused.

"You lost, your highness?" Shenzi taunted. The hyenas cackled and began to mob Simba who swiped at those nearest.

"I don't want to fight…" Simba snarled.

"Good, so you can surrender now." Shenzi sneered.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's get him!" Banzai yelled, running forwards with a gleam of crazed hunger in his eyes.

"Wait!" Shenzi called an idea forming in her mind. She turned to Banzai and spoke quietly so the lion couldn't hear. "We could turn this into an advantage much better than one meal."

"What? We kill the king and the Pridelands are blown open for us, there's no other adult males to take charge.

"That's just tradition. The females can still be queen if need be."

"They still lose their leader and we can take the land."

"Sure, then the outlanders come in to take it back after we're still recovering from an attack on the Pridelands. Do you want that?"

Banzai paused. "No. But they aren't all bad, you know. The outlanders, I mean."

"Maybe, maybe not, But that Zira nut is, and she'd be in charge through some puppet on the throne. Better Simba than her."

"You... have a point." Banzai admitted. "What's the plan?"

"We cut a deal. There's no way he'd make it back safely without help, he's injured and surrounded by people who despise Pridelanders, probably doesn't even know the way back. In return we get help for Ed and maybe some food while we're at it." She added as an afterthought.

"I dunno..." Banzai began but Shenzi interrupted him.

"You wanted to do something and this is it. Opportunities like this are rare, you've gotta seize them." Turning to Simba again she repeated. "Are you lost?"

"What is it you want?" Simba spat.

"You remember Ed?" Shenzi nodded towards her friend, shivering in the corner. "He needs help. I think maybe your monkey is just the guy to do it."

"Rafiki? Forget it." Simba snarled.

"Hear me out would ya? You're in no position to make demands here. You're not our king and you're not exactly the most liked person around these parts. Lots of guys want to get their claws on you, kingy."

"Like who?" Simba asked.

"Daddy didn't mention much about these parts did he? This is where all the exiles go. Not just hyenas, although there are some clans around here that make us look like your best friends. I'm talking crocodiles that became too greedy, Rhinos and elephants that went mad, charging everything in sight, even vultures that were no longer content to just scavenge but would peck young cubs to death and standing between this and the Pridelands is the outlands, but you already know about those, don't you?" Simba looked at the ground briefly. "Exactly, so if you run off by yourself it's a death sentence. You need guides. You need us. I'll let you think about it. Run along now, you know where to find us." She signalled for the clan to break away, giving Simba a clear exit. Simba stared at the hyenas for a moment before starting to move out. Banzai gave Shenzi a confused look but she waved it away.

"Wait." Simba said, much less aggressively than he had been speaking. Shenzi smiled at him. "I guess I've got no choice. If you wanted me dead, you'd have done it already."

"Atta guy. Proving that some lions do have half a brain." Shenzi cackled.

"So you won't attack me?" Simba asked feeling rather childish in asking.

"If you behave." Shenzi sneered. "But I want your word that you will do everything in your power to help Ed."

Simba nodded slowly "I promise, once we're back in the Pridelands that I will."

"Good. Now it's too dangerous to move at night for someone like you..." Shenzi began but was interrupted by Simba.

"I can manage fine at night." He told them.

"Sure but so can the other hyena clans who come out at night and they haven't just washed up from a river. Nah you need your beauty sleep, believe me."

"You expect me to sleep with you around? In the middle of a gang of hyenas?"

"Yep. Seriously though you're covered in scratches and that back leg looks kinda weak. We rest here until morning." Simba just stared. Shenzi sighed. "See that ledge?" She pointed at a high point of rocks. "Our legs aren't strong enough to get up there but yours are, even with that dodgy back one. You can sleep up there if it makes you feel better." Simba took a few moments to move but cautiously made his way to the ledge. He looked exhausted and after a moments delay began to rest.

"This isn't gonna work." Banzai said. "Too much bad blood."

"We've gotta try, for Ed, right?"

"Right." He nodded still looking uncertain but no longer arguing.

"Aminah?" Shenzi called. The female gazed over. "Take some of clan out hunting. That'll get us some food and hopefully make him feel less... overwhelmed by numbers."

"Sure." she replied and signalled at a few members to follow her. Shenzi looked over at the Pridelands king, now huddled over and hoping Banzai was wrong, he usually was.

"How many of us are going with?" Banzai asked her.

"Just me." She replied. "Don't wanna make him nervous."

"What!" Banzai exclaimed. "It's too dangerous to go alone."

"I won't be alone." She nodded at Simba.

"pffft, good as." Banzai snorted.

"Who knows, maybe we'll be best friends by the time we get back." She chuckled. Banzai wasn't so amused.

"I thought Scar was our friend, it just showed you can never trust a lion." He snarled. "I still think it would easier to kill him now." He walked towards his bed. "I'm coming with you, there's nothing you can say otherwise, Shenzi."

She smiled. "Figured I'd end up stuck with you." Taking one last look at Simba, she entered the nearest cave for bed.

A/N: _Title comes from TV Tropes page I thought appropriate. If you enjoyed please tell me why, if you didn't then also tell me why._


	2. Here kitty, kitty, kitty

"No!" Was all Nala could muster saying upon hearing the news. She took a quick backward glance at Kiara to make sure she was still asleep. "He's OK." She told Sarabi, who even now remained dignified. "He's Simba, remember when we thought he was crushed in the stampede, he was fine."

"This is different, Nala." Sarabi genially told her. "I'm sorry but he fell a long way."

"No." Nala said again. It was tearing her apart inside, just as she knew it must be doing to Sarabi. Tears began to form in her eyes. "No." She said for the third time, this time defiantly. "If we don't find the body don't count him out. He's tough and he's… he's… Simba." She shook the tears from her eyes.

"With all due respect Ma'am, May I say something?" Came a voice from above, Zazu had been unusually quiet until now. She nodded. "Even if he survived such a fall, he'd be forced by the currents into hostile territory, assuming he doesn't drown in the process. He'd be forced far beyond the boundaries of the Pridelands, where he'd no doubt meet all sorts of horrible, bloodthirsty monsters, all too willing to tear him apart."

"Thank you, Zazu. That will be all." Nala snarled. She began bounding off of Priderock.

"Nala, please." Sarabi followed her. "Just listen to reason."

"Where are you going?" Zazu asked in a more panicked manner.

"To find Simba." She started to sprint off into the night.

"Murderer." Simba snarled at his uncle. Fires danced all around them, Priderock barely recognisable as the battle cries of lion's and hyena's echoed through the night.

"Simba, Simba, please. Have mercy, I beg you." Scar pleaded, making himself look as unthreatening as possible."

"You don't deserve to live." Simba told him, advancing ever closer to the terrified tyrant.

"Simba." He began breathing heavily, whether it was from the smoke or from fear Simba didn't know, nor did he care. "I am family. It's the hyenas who are the real enemy. It was their fault, it was their idea." Simba wanted to call him out as a liar, to say the hyenas had no intelligence or ambition for such things but this time the words struck him. When had Scar outright lied? Not once did he say he never had anything to do with Mufasa's death. Every accusation Scar had thrown at him had been painfully true. So was this one so unlikely? Obviously Scar was still a monster but maybe the hyenas weren't just his mindless followers? He turned to Scar but his uncle had vanished, as had Priderock and the great fire, instead he was in the elephant graveyard and instead of Scar standing in front of him it was Nala and Zazu.

"Simba? You OK?" Nala asked.

"Huh, I'm fine." He replied, only now registering that he and Nala were cubs again.

"No, you are not fine." Zazu told him, waggling his feathers in the shape of a finger, _how does he do that? _Simba asked himself. "It is all the more reason we should get out of here."

"Look banana beak is scared." Simba told Nala, who gave a quick giggle.

"It's Mr. Banana beak to you, fuzzy, and right now we are all in very real danger." Zazu began glancing left and right anxiously. Simba suddenly remembered what happened next and spun towards the massive skull next to them.

"He's right, run!" He said to Nala but she just raised her eyebrows.

"What's got into you?" Nala asked. "You two wusses can run back to Priderock if you want but I'm gonna check this out." She walked up to the skull.

"No, get away from it." Simba told her but she just laughed at his reaction, only to have three other voices echo the laughter. Before the hyenas even showed themselves Simba ran, ran so hard his legs ached. It was a fear that he'd never quite felt since, the first time any other had wished him harm. But all too soon he and Nala ran into a dead end,_ the_ dead end. He struggled to climb up to the highest ledge where light was entering the cavern but it was to no avail.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty." Banzai snarled as the trio slowly advanced holding devil like grins. Simba attempted a roar but they simply burst into hysterics.

"That was it? HA, do it again." Shenzi taunted. So Simba roared again but again the trio laughed. This wasn't what was supposed to happen.

"DAD!" Simba yelled as loudly as he could but nobody came. "DAD!" He tried again.

"Daddy isn't coming." Shenzi told him. "Tell 'em why Ed." Ed laughed and muttered something.

"That's right." Banzai nodded. "You're our second course of lion meat today, kid."

"Wow, this is awesome." Nala said. "Simba, you're king. Tell them to back off." Simba wanted to ask why Nala would think that his father's death was 'awesome', that he wasn't ready to be king after all, that they wouldn't listen to him even if he were king but before he could Banzai had pinned him to the wall.

"ah, dinner. Goodnight your majesty." He said before his jaws closed in.

Simba darted awake, covered in sweat. The cold rock face he was on immediately began to cool him down. It took him a moment to remember where he was. Hyena den. Shuddering slightly he glanced down from his ledge after catching a sniff of meat. Banzai was tucking into a zebra corpse.

"Ah, breakfast." He said licking his libs before noticing Simba. "Good morning your majesty." He called up. "The clan found this last night after we all went to sleep, I'm telling you zebra is such a rare treat around here. You may be some kinda good luck charm." He said licking the blood of his lips. He looked at the zebra as the blood began oozing down its fur. "Hey." He called up at Simba. "What's black, white and red all over?" Simba rolled his eyes.

"A bleeding zebra?"

"Yep." Banzai answered and burst into laughter. "Heard that one before huh?"

"Sure." Simba said not wanting to upset his 'host' by pointing out how obvious the joke was.

"Oh, er." Banzai was looking from his meal to Simba. "Do you want some, if you're hungry?"

"Err, yeah." Simba said just noticing how hungry he actually was. After a quick spot check he jumped near Banzai and cautiously began to feed. The tension between the two was thick and got worse when Simba remembered his dream. "So, er, did your sick friend get any of this?" Simba asked.

"Oh, yeah." Banzai nodded happily. "Not as much as I'd like but still glad he ate something before we leave."

"That's good." Simba nodded before taking another bite.

"Yeah." Banzai said. "Yeah." A brief silence followed. "Hey, erm, how's your leg?" Banzai asked.

"Oh, right. It seems fine now, just needed some rest I think." Simba shook his back leg, which seemed normal again.

"That's good." Banzai nodded before taking another bite.

"Yeah." Simba said. "Yeah."

"Glad to see you two getting along." Shenzi called emerging from a small cave from the side. "This isn't awkward at all." She muttered under her breath.

"Oh did you want this?" Simba asked moving away from the meal.

"Nah, I've already had some. But I'm glad you know your place." She smirked.

"Hey, I was just being polite." Simba said. "You're not in charge of me."

"I am around here." She still held that smug look which was now reflected on Banzai. Simba suddenly realised something had just happened that he'd never heard of before. A hyena had turned down food.

"Hey why did you just…" He tried to ask without offending them. "I mean I've never heard of…. It's just that I thought… If there isn't much to eat around here, that you'd eat until you just couldn't… eat… anymore."

"You saying we're greedy?" Banzai asked.

"What? No." Simba exclaimed.

"I'd looove to eat some more." Shenzi told him. "But if I eat until I burst they'd be a lot of hungry mouths around here. We have to work as a unit to survive out here, can't have one part of us weaker than another. We are one." She added at the end. "Come on I want leave as soon as you're both ready, so move it."

It was only a few hours after sunrise when the unlikely trio left the hyena den. Aminah had been placed in charge when Shenzi left. Shenzi assured Banzai she was trustworthy. "It'll be fine, truth be told, I've been looking to her as my successor after I'm gone. This'll be a good test for her." Simba was waiting for the pair just ahead but as they turned to leave a scramble of paws was heard from behind.

"Ed, no." Banzai said to their friend. Ed had run up after them, not wanting to be separated from his two best friends.

"Ed, you've gotta stay here, man." Shenzi told him but the hyena shook his head. He was pale and scruffy, or at least more pale and scruffy. It was clear he could barely stand let alone walk all the way to the Pridelands.

"We're gonna get help, for you. But you can't come with. Sorry, but you'd slow us down." Banzai told him. Ed was staring at them intently. "When we get back and you're all better then we can run around chasing Wildebeest all day, I promise." And with that Ed sat down and gave his friends an affectionate lick.

"Hey, easy there." Shenzi told him. "I don't like you that much."

"You guys coming?" Simba called from ahead.

"Just a sec." Shenzi replied. "You take care of yourself, Ed. Do everything Aminah tells you and drink a lot of water." Ed nodded. "We'll be back before you know it."

It was a few hours into their walk and nobody had said anything. Simba had to admit that Shenzi had been right. There was no way that he could have found his way out of here himself. The caverns and cave networks they had to use were long and winding, very easy to get lost in. There were a couple of instances where they'd had to hide from other creatures, once from a Rhino and twice from other hyenas. Without the help from his two companions he'd have found himself in a few scrapes or worse.

"So" Shenzi began, clearly not used to walking silence. "How did you end up washed down the river, your highness?"

"Yeah." Banzai pressed him. "How'd the big strong king end up down here with us?"

Simba sighed. "It was a stupid mistake, I went to help…" His train of thought stopped on young lion who, his mother thought, was the son of Scar. "You guys were close with Scar, right?" Shenzi shook her head in disgust while Banzai spat on the ground.

"We thought we were." Banzai said. "But he just used us. Why you asking?"

"Well, I thought maybe you would know if he had any cubs." Simba explained, worried he'd touched a nerve. The two hyenas exchanged looks. "Only because my mother seems to think it was Scar's son who threw me into the river." After a moments delay they both burst into laughter.

"Nuka?" Shenzi spluttered at him. "You were beaten by that runt?"

"So he is Scar's son?" Simba jumped on the fact that they seemed to know him.

"Sure." Shenzi nodded still struggling to keep a straight face. "Oh God, I thought you were supposed to be tough."

"Yeah, you really did need us." Banzai told him gleefully. "That lion couldn't beat up a Meerkat."

"Hey, I just got really unlucky." Simba told them. "It's not like it beat me up and threw off the chasm."

"Whoa, you fell off the chasm?" Banzai asked. "How'd you survive?"

"I just fell in the water." Simba explained.

"Water isn't soft, not when you fall that far." Shenzi said with a raised brow.

"Look it doesn't matter. I just want to know how did Scar have a cub?" Simba asked

"Well," Banzai grinned. "When a boy lion like Scar and girl lion like Zira find themselves getting certain urges…" The pair started laughing again.

"eugg, I didn't need to hear about that part, I mean how did I not know about this? When did it happen?"

"Nuka was born about three seasons before you came back to challenge Scar, then Vitani only a few days before you came." Shenzi explained.

"There are two of them?" Simba asked horrified.

"Vitani was waay too young know anything about Scar." Banzai explained. "Even Nuka was just a little guy."

"Zira…" Simba muttered.

"Excuse me?" Shenzi asked.

"Zira will corrupt them. If she's still leading the Outlanders then they'll grow up mad and filled with rage and hate." Simba explained.

"Cool." Shenzi said dully.

"Don't you two get it?" Simba asked urgently. "When they grow up they will seek revenge for their father, they'll be a danger to the Pridelands and everyone in it." The two hyenas just rolled their eyes.

"Look, what happens in the Pridelands doesn't bother us, you lions can kill each other all you want, as long as you don't give my clan anymore trouble than we've already got." Shenzi told him. "Anyway, I don't know about the girl but Nuka is a joke. When he fully grows up he'll be even weaker than Scar."

"Oh I don't know, Shenzi." Banzai sniggered. "He took down the king all by himself." The two once again burst into laughter.

"Aren't we supposed to be keeping quiet?" Simba asked wishing they'd stop laughing at him. As he spoke a dark figure appeared on the path ahead. Its silhouette was ape like, hunched over but still on two legs not four. In its arm it raised a stick with a small flame at the end. The dashes of light occasionally illuminating its face, a face with a series of scars etched onto its face. It was a baboon, much like Rafiki but unlike Rafiki its mane was jet black and the bright colours on the face had faded in much darker blues and reds, the most obvious change however was the facial expression. Rafiki always had an expression of kindness, crazy sometimes but kind. This baboon held a look of deep pain and rage. Then it screamed, a horrible shrill scream of a being consumed by hatred.

"Oh, boy." Banzai said.

_A/N OK there we go and please review. What I try to avoid in these sorts of stories are the two extremes of heroes and villains working together. Either A) they become friends immediately or B) they randomly beat each other up. _


	3. You will pay

The baboon took a few sidesteps forward using one knuckle to support him whilst holding the flame in the other. Shenzi and Banzai started to snarl but Simba was still struck by the sudden appearance of the stranger.  
"I know you." He spoke softly. His voice was croaky, like it was barely used. He pointed a finger at Simba. "You are the one who banished us, condemned us to hell and damned our very soul." His eyes were little more than squinted black beads in a sea of milky white riddled with bloody veins.

"Hey, back off monkey. Go play in a tree." Shenzi barked.

"I did not speak to you, primal beast. I speak only to your king." The baboon's eyebrows rose as he glanced at her in disgust.

"My King?" She spluttered.

"Oh, boy." Banzai repeated. Simba took a few steps forward.

"I don't know who you are but just step aside, we mean no harm." Simba told the baboon but made sure to rear to his full impressive size.

"And now you don't even have the courtesy to remember my face. Paa the arrogance of your kind. Of course I remember you, Mufasa." He said craning his neck closer to Simba.

"I'm not Mufasa. He died a long while ago." Simba said solemnly.

"Do not lie to me." The baboon bared his dirty, yellow teeth. "You did this. We do not forgive our enemies."

"Look you can't do anything to us." Banzai said as he started to circle the baboon.

"yeah." Shenzi joined in. "What could a scrawny little chimp like you do against us?" With that the baboon thrust his fire at her but she easily avoided it, Banzai came from the right grabbing the stick with his mouth and threw it to the side. The baboon stumbled from another snap from Banzai's jaws and fell to the ground. The two hyenas cackled and leapt on their defeated attacker as he screamed. Simba stood in shock unsure what to do. Should he help the baboon and risk antagonising his already rocky relationship with the hyenas? Perhaps it was best to just leave them, the baboon clearly wasn't friendly and the hyenas were just defending themselves. Defending _him. _The baboon shook the hyenas off and attempted to run but he didn't get more than a few feet before Shenzi tackled him to ground again. No. Killing someone attempting to run is murder.

"Enough!" Simba roared with enough power to gain everyone's attention. He looked Shenzi in the eyes as she stood above the wheezing baboon. "Let him go."

"You can't…" She began but again Simba roared.

"Let him go or the deal is off." Simba and Shenzi stared each other out for a few moments while Banzai looked awkwardly between them.

"Go on, scram." Shenzi spat at the baboon who slowly rose to his feet. Covered in scratch marks and now having a limp he still managed to clamber up the nearest rock slope.

"You will pay." The baboon called back down when he reached the top. "Oh, you will pay, Mufasa, for all the injustices suffered by the faithful. You and your pets." The hyenas gave another bark. "Do not think this false kindness changes anything." And with that the baboon retreated from view.

"Why'd you make us do that for?" Shenzi snarled.

"No killing, not while I'm around." Simba firmly told her.

"Ohh, well ain't you the pure and just king." Shenzi replied. "Your morality has no place out here, look around you. Do you think this place is filled with civilised folk?"

"Killing a crazy old baboon trying to run off isn't the way we're going to work." Simba remained by his point.

"Creepy old baboon, though." Banzai muttered. "Who was that?"

"Who cares?" Shenzi turned around. "Let's just go before we get a lecture on the error of our ways."

It was morning at Priderock. Nala had returned from her search with no news, no trail and no clue. But it would not deter her. Sarabi had discouraged mentioning the disappearance to the other animals in the kingdom in case of inducing panic but it hadn't stopped her asking a few for any sightings. The loyalist crocodiles had been most inquisitive and despite Nala's attempts at hiding the true reason for the questioning eventually the chieftain, Ohin, wormed it out of her but she made him promise not to tell anyone else and that he would aid the search, a waterborne ally would be useful for finding someone who fell into a river. All the king's subjects had their own individual species leaders. They could decide on internal affairs within their species and whether or not they wished to belong to the lion's kingdom. During Scar's reign all the perks to being under the lion king for the other animals vanished as Scar became more and more power hungry so they disappeared until all he was left with were mutinous lionesses and increasingly disillusioned hyenas. Once Simba claimed the throne the animals flocked back in mass numbers. Now Nala was afraid they would leave again and the land would return to being a wasteland. Indeed it wasn't overhunting from the hyenas or anyone else that caused the heard to move on but they simply saw no benefit to staying and that could easily happen again. "Mom! Mom!" Came a cub's voice and Kiara came running out of the main cave. "Guess what? Mom, guess what? I almost caught a bug. It was in my mouth and everything but then it buzzed and it tickled and so I sneezed and it got away but I almost had it." Nala's ecstatic cub was bouncing around her paws.

"Well done, Kiara." Nala said as she affectionately rubbed her neck against her daughter.

"Mom? Why are you sad?" Kiara asked, she'd stopped jumping about and her ears and tail had dropped slightly.

"I'm not sad." She said giving Kiara another rub.

"Yes you are, you're sad." Kiara stared into her mother's eyes.

"Maybe I'm sad because the bug got away." She said but Kiara didn't look convinced.

"Where's Dad?" She asked looking around. Thankfully Timon and Pumbaa trotted up to them.

"We didn't find anything, Queen Nala." Pumbaa told her.

"Not in front of the princess, Pumbaa." Timon said as he pulled his friend's ears.

"Oh, right sorry." Said Pumbaa.

"What's going on?" Kiara asked them.

"Erm, well, I, we, it's just." They spluttered.

"We're looking for grubs." Pumbaa said.

"Yeah, big juicy, crunchy, slimy grubs." Timon nodded and they both held toothy grins.

"There's no sign of him, my lady." Zazu said as he landed next to Nala. She groaned and held her face in her paws. Zazu spotted Kiara and backtracked with more babbling. Nala gazed over the horizon, he was alive, she could feel it but he was still in terrible danger and she felt so helpless.

"What happened to you guys after I became king?" Simba asked his companions, trying to ease the mood after the incident with the baboon. "We searched for you but we've heard nothing for seasons, until now."

"Aw, you were looking for us?" Shenzi sneered and banzai chuckled with her.

"Yeah, you're wanted for murder and high treason, did you think we'd just let you go? That I'd just let you go?" Simba asked them.

"Exactly why we left." Banzai told him. "We had too many enemies and not enough friends."

"But why didn't you go with Zira and the others who still support Scar?" At this the two hyenas stopped in their tracks.

"What did you say?" Shenzi asked him.

"Wouldn't it have been safer to stay with Scar's supporters?" Simba asked tentatively. The two hyenas exchanged looks.

"How much do you know about Scar's death?" Shenzi asked.

"I… I killed him." Simba said unsure why the thought made him feel guilty. Scar had lunged at him and it was an accident but it still felt wrong. "I threw him into the fire." Simba held his head. "That's what I told everyone in the pride, that's why Zira and the outlanders hate me." Thankfully his friends and the majority of the pride understood what had happened and didn't blame Simba but the outlanders did, as did Simba himself. Again Simba noticed the hyenas exchange glances.

"Not exactly." Shenzi told him.

"What? What happened to him? He's dead, we found his bones, Rafiki said they were his." Simba's heart began to beat faster than it should.

"Oh, don't you worry about that, he is dead and those were his bones. It's just it wasn't the fall or the fire that killed him." Shenzi explained. "Just before Scar attacked you, when he was trying to worm out of it, Banzai, Ed and I were there, neither of you knew it but we were waiting in the shadows. We were gonna jump you but we heard what he said." Banzai began to growl.

"Yeah." Banzai continued. "Stinkin' coward tried to blame us for everything. Why would our idea make _him _king? It was the last draw after all those broken promises we just left him to you."

"Broken promises? I thought he let you do what you wanted?" Simba asked. They both shrugged.

"Only if it didn't interfere with what Scar wanted and believe me, Scar wanted direct control over everything." Shenzi told him. "You saw the Kingdom, Scar made all the other animals leave and did nothing about the biggest drought I've ever seen. We're used to having little food and water so I tried giving Scar advice but he wouldn't listen, said I was trying to take power from him and then he hit me." Simba's face must have shown surprise because she nodded and added "believe me; don't think we were any better off than your pride." There was a slight pause. "Worked out how he really died yet?" Shenzi asked him.

"Wait you?" Simba gasped. They nodded.

"I'd do it again." Banzai snarled. "You were just gonna let him go, that ain't justice."

"Some would say the same for you guys." Simba told them.

"Yeah, probably." Shenzi agreed. "Thing I don't get about lions, happy to hunt innocent zebra or antelope for food but when someone as foul as Scar comes along to kill him is wrong. I just do not get you." Shenzi shook her head.

"Something doesn't add up." Simba told them. "Timon says that you guys were with him."

"Who's that?" Banzai asked.

"He's my friend. Says he outsmarted you about the same time as Scar and I fought." Simba explained.

"Sounds like your friend likes to think he's more important than he is." Shenzi rolled her eyes.

"That… sounds about right actually." Simba admitted. "But why were you with Scar in the first place?"

"We… We were friends as kids." Shenzi told him. "Mufasa was the favourite and Scar hated him for it. So he wouldn't play with the lions or his brother. Every day he would wander over to our side of the Pridelands, we weren't banished back then you see. Every day we would play together, me, Banzai, Ed and Scar. But as we got older he began to become distant, more… regal. Like he was no longer our equal, he was better than us, especially after the banishment." She said with distaste. "We thought that we still meant something to him but by the end he thought of us as tools, nothing more." She snorted.

"That sounds rough." Said Simba, not sure what else he could say.

"Rough? You had one of your best friends turn on you like that?" Shenzi asked him. Simba thought of if Nala or Timon or Pumbaa did that to him. It was impossible but then again it sounded like the hyenas thought this of Scar.

"He was my uncle though. I trusted him as a cub and even then it wasn't until I got back to Priderock that I realised how far he'd gone, what he'd done." Simba muttered. The hyenas nodded.

"It was while you were gone that Scar lost it." Shenzi told him. "Especially after what he tried to do to the girl." Shenzi shuddered.

"Wait, what girl?" Simba felt very cold all of a sudden.

"Er, Shenzi? Sure we want to mention this?" Banzai asked her.

"Can't not now. I think it was your friend, you know the girl. He tried to, erm, have his way with her." Shenzi didn't look him in the eye as she spoke.

"Nala." Simba whispered as his fur stood on end.

"Why'd you think she left?" Banzai asked him grimly. "Aren't you and her a thing now?" Simba nodded.

"You tried to kill her when we were cubs, why did you care about what Scar did to her?" Simba asked them.

"There are limits." Banzai told him a look of distaste fixed on his face. "So we let her go."

"What?"

"We let her go." Banzai repeated. "Nobody left the Pridelands without our knowing so, the clan was everywhere, saw everything and as leaders we got all the info. We just figured she was gonna run away not find you. We couldn't blame her for that."

"Yeah you couldn't." Simba said under his breath.

Chacha the elephant sharpened his tusks against the rock face. It was good to have them sharp enough to pierce the flesh of any other, then no one would dare challenge him. Wrapping his trunk around a nearby dead tree, he effortlessly pulled it from the ground and threw it into a pile of rocks, knocking them all into a heap. He snorted slightly as he took his rage out on the inanimate objects. A croaky chuckle echoed from above. He turned to the rocky ledge where the chuckle originated and saw the mad baboon.

"Maler, have you come to save my soul from eternal damnation?" Chacha asked the unhinged ape who had come to regard himself as a prophet.

"Why yes my child." The elephant rolled his eyes. "I fear you disregard my teachings yet I offer you redemption now. The one who condemned us has returned." He announced dramatically. Again the elephant snorted.

"You're even crazier than I thought. I guess you don't keep up with recent politics. Mufasa is dead. His son is king now, I think. I don't even care now." He said as he head-butted another dead tree.

"Oh no. No, my friend they were lies, lies I recognised from the moment I heard them. Yes. Mufasa is here, the spirits confirm it. He walks among us, here to taunt us with his presence. Why do you believe I lie to you, Chacha?" He almost screamed the last line as he jumped onto the elephant's back.

"Get off of me you freak." Chacha bellowed. Maler leaned over Chacha's front so they were eye to eye, although the baboon was upside down.

"Trust me. The king is here. I am not strong enough to kill neither him, nor his hyena minions but you are mighty. Trust me." He whispered. "With your help, he will pay for all we have suffered."

_A/N: Names are important. As the only European name in the entire franchise (as far as I'm aware) is Ed they need to be African to fit in. Bonus points if they mean something in relation to the character such as Simba=lion or Rafiki=friend. For mine Aminah (the hyena left in charge of Shenzi's clan) means trustworthy. Ohin (the blink and miss him crocodile chieftain) means chief. Chacha the elephant means strong and Mala the baboon (Maler) means bitter. Of course this may not be completely accurate, if at all, due to my research being google but it's still good to at least try. By the way the baboon's name should be Mala but a simple typo would result in his name sometimes becoming 'Nala' and cause inevitable confusion. Also in this chapter is a slight crack at the Lion King 3 (or 1/2 for those in US or Canada). I like the film and I'll say that some parts did happen such as Timon leaving his family after the hyena attack or meeting Pumbaa or raising Simba but Timon and Pumbaa being involved in every major event in the first film I struggle with and chart it up to Timon's ego, especially heroically defeating the hyenas when they should be watching Simba vs. Scar at the time._

_Please review if you can, it's nice to hear feedback that keeps me going, good or bad. _


	4. Elephant charge

A gentle breeze flowed through the air as the wildebeest grazed outside the aging baobab tree which held the also aging baboon, Rafiki. He looked down upon the peaceful sight of the herd and sighed. Looking now nobody would think there was anything wrong in the world at all. Yet there was, Rafiki felt deeply saddened by Simba's disappearance. He agreed with Nala in that the king was alive, it was a shamans instinct. He already thought Simba dead after the stampede which claimed Mufasa and Rafiki was never wrong twice. By now the sun was beating down on the plains so Rafiki retreated into the shade of his tree. On his way to the centre he passed the drawings of major players from notable events since Rafiki's arrival, spanning from great kings to dangerous criminals, anyone who Rafiki could sense a particularly great or dark future was worthy of being painted onto his tree and watched closely as events unfolded. Sometimes they'd need a push in the right direction and old Rafiki would be there to do it. Rafiki paused at a drawing of a dark furred and rather slim lion, Scar. It was smudged as a sign of the being in question either being dead or no longer being directly relevant to the future and after Simba's return Rafiki had been about to rub out the trio of hyenas placed beneath Scar in a position of near worship. In truth he had only added the hyenas to show how Scar commanded more control over an entirely different species than he ever did over other lions, yet he felt that the three hyenas still had a part to play in unfolding events even with Scar gone. For good or ill Rafiki couldn't say but based on the past he had reason to be worried. Rafiki walked over to his drawing of Simba and slowly reached out and stroked the picture of his friend. "Oh Mufasa." Rafiki felt the presence of the former king blowing through the wind. "Your boy is having a far more eventful life than is good for him, yes?" Rafiki cracked open one of the trees fruits and let the wind create patterns for him to interpret. "What?" He asked the wind. "More tests of his kingly strength? Has he not been through enough?" Rafiki stared at the fruit's juices. "But Mufasa, Simba is already a very strong king. Sure nobody is perfect but there isn't much to complain about." Rafiki focused his gaze back onto the fruit. "No that can't be right." He muttered as he shook the last pattern away. "It is right!" He exclaimed, putting the fruit arm's length. "You can't be serious?" He asked Mufasa but a strong gust told him the king was. Muttering to himself Rafiki moved back towards the drawings of the hyenas and began to make changes to the drawings. "I'll do my best, Mufasa but this is the craziest thing I've heard said, and old Rafiki himself says some crazy things."

Shenzi took a long sniff at the air. "Hold up." She said to her companions. The three of them stopped among the rocks. The cliff faces were no longer harsh and rock faces no longer jagged and unforgiving but there was still a lack of any green around, bones still littered the area and there were multiple routes and small caverns dotted around.

"What's wrong?" Simba asked from behind her.

"You smell that?" She asked him. Simba took another sniff.

"This whole place stinks, I can't smell anything." Simba scrunched his face up in disgust.

"You get used to it." Banzai told him. "Now you mention it, Shenzi, something stinks more than the lion."

"Hey!" Simba turned around to Banzai who sniggered in response.

"Seriously you two shut up." Shenzi growled.

"He started it." Simba told her.

"How old are you?" Shenzi rolled her eyes. Dull thuds began to ring through the valley causing all three to divert their attention to the path ahead. A large shadow crawled around the corner ahead and the footsteps grew louder. Shenzi tensed and hunched her back whilst baring her teeth and snarling. She slowly backed up towards Banzai who copied her hostility. Finally the shadow's owner stomped around the corner, it was an elephant. The elephant was a massive bull with one enormous tusk and the other had been broken off leaving it a jagged stump. Like most other creatures in the area he was covered in scratches and bite marks, one particularly large scar was on his right ear leaving it split halfway. He looked over the three beings in front of him, locking eyes with Shenzi for the briefest of moments before shifting his gaze to Simba behind her. Shenzi noticed his eyes squint slightly at Simba as he took a few steps towards them. "Can we help you?" Shenzi asked the elephant.

"Are you Simba?" The elephant asked with a deep booming voice.

"Whoever he is you don't need to bother." Shenzi snapped before Simba could answer, the lion would probably do something 'noble' and definitely do something stupid, like actually telling a gigantic dangerous elephant he was one of the most hated animals in the lands.

"I am Simba. King of the Pridelands, any problem you have should be taken up with me." The lion proudly spoke. Shenzi and Banzai groaned. The elephant held a maddened gleam in his eyes and let loose a thunderous trumpet.

"Then I think I owe you a big welcome, boy." He bellowed stomping his feet which were more like tree trunks than feet. He began to pick up speed as he moved towards them, with the clear intent of crushing them all.

"Run!" Shenzi told them as she turned tail, knocking into Banzai as she did which sent the pair crashing to the floor for the briefest of moments; however they were back on their feet in the blink of an eye. Shenzi felt a muscular tug on her hind leg and she was pulled into the air by the elephant's trunk. He snorted as he pulled her up to eye level. It only took a moment for him to dismiss the hyena and threw her to the side giving chase for Simba, his true target. Luckily the valleys and passageways were relatively small, rendering a lot of it difficult for the elephant to manoeuvre. Shenzi caught up with Banzai and Simba while the elephant was attempting to squeeze himself through a gap. The two were breathing heavily when she met up with them. "There!" Shenzi nodded at a small gap in the rock face. "If we crawl we can make it through."

"We don't know what's on the other side, if there is one." Banzai shouted. Then the elephant thundered into view, having finally managed to gain entry. "Never mind." Banzai shouted as he darted for the hole. Shenzi sprinted after him just seeing Banzai's rear end disappear into the darkness as she followed in.

Maler the baboon cackled in his chesty way. He beat his arms on the floor as he watched from the safe distance of high ground. The lion he thought was Mufasa had been abandoned by his unfaithful servants. Now it was amusing to watch the lion run from Chacha. The elephant was toying with him, no one could stand up to a creature so strong, not even the king. He let loose another cackle as Chacha's trunk knocked the lion against a large rock. The lion's eyes widened delightfully as he barely escaped being impaled on Chacha's tusk. He crawled on his belly underneath the elephant only just dodging one of his legs from crushing the lion's spine. Maler cackled again louder and began to jump up and down with glee. Again the lion began to run but there was nowhere left to go. Maler could see his route had led him down a dead end. Retribution, vengeance and ultimate victory would finally arrive. The lion had retreated into a small indent in the rock face, for what good it would do. The baboon smiled as he watched the elephant's trunk inches away from the king's face. He had attempted to make himself as flat as possible but he couldn't stay there forever as the elephant was saying.

"You'll have to move eventually." Chacha mocked with his booming voice as he began to chuckle. Even Maler admitted that Chacha chuckling sounded wrong but the excitement had built up so much in the ape that he couldn't stop laughing with joy. Every part of him tingled with pleasure at the sight in front of him. But then movement from above Chacha and his victim grasped Maler's attention. A rock, a large rock was tumbling down, knocking more to join it the further it fell. An avalanche was descending onto the elephant. Chacha trumpeted in surprise once he finally noticed the incoming boulders and turned as fast as he could, but his size prevented quick movements and it was too late for escape. He was buried by the sea of rocks with sickening crunches being heard from as far away as Maler's position. The king would live, came an irritating voice from the back of Maler's head. That little indent saved his life, the voice continued. Maler shrieked with anger and began to beat the ground with anything he could, hands, feet, nearby stones. He cast his eyes to where the avalanche had originated and saw two figures standing there. On all fours with hunched backs, their silhouette was hyena, no doubt about it. Maler watched as they too descended down to the crash site. _Hmm. _The ape thought to himself, withholding his anger. _I never thought hyenas essential. They're crude and unspeakably plain. But maybe they've a glimmer of potential, if aligned with my vision and brain. _The baboon began to walk off schemes rotating around his head.

Simba gasped as light beat back down onto his face. He'd never appreciated the feel of sunlight until now. His senses still weren't in focus and everything was distorted, surely that rockslide would have been his death. It was just luck that had prevented him being crushed at that moment. Mumbling voices began to fill his ears as he struggled to decipher what was being said.

"…all this just have him die on us." A male voice was saying.

"Shut up, I think he's moving." A female voice interrupted. Simba coughed loudly and four hyenas came into view, which quickly merged into two hyenas. "Nice nap?" Shenzi asked him.

"wh-what happened." He asked panting slightly as he began to shift some of the rocks away from him. The hyenas looked at one another, as Simba had come to realise, their bond enabled them to communicate without saying anything. It something he could only do with Timon and Pumbaa. "Rockslide. We don't know what happened." Shenzi told him.

"It's just good for you that we were still here to dig you out." Banzai sniggered.

"Yeah sorry about that, I didn't realise lions were too fat to go through the tunnel we did." Shenzi giggled. Simba shook himself all over once completely free from the rocks, sending sediment dust scattering through the wind. "You're just lucky you missed the big ones, getting in that little space there probably saved your ass."

"I don't feel lucky at the moment. " Simba said solemnly. He began to wonder how much more he could take out here.

"Finally sinking in eh?" Banzai asked him.

"Do you think I'll see Priderock again?" Simba asked them.

"Er sure. I'm not big on the whole comforting thing but you'll make it there, with our help anyway." Shenzi shrugged. That was part of the problem, Simba didn't want to know his life rested in their clutches. It wasn't so much his own safety that bothered him but if he made it back then he'd owe them even if he helped with Ed, he didn't want to owe the hyena ringleaders anything. He certainly didn't want them becoming… likable? That was the wrong word but Simba no longer saw them as evil, they were becoming more like a grey morality than Simba was more comfortable with. It would have been so much easier if they'd have been shouting at him constantly, refusing to answer questions and praising his uncle as the true king. There was now the nagging idea forming in his mind that the rockslide may not be as natural as they pretending… if he literally owed them his life now… the thought sent shivers down his spin remembering royal protocol would demand they be granted any request, such as land.

"So who's hungry?" Banzai asked looking at a large pile of rocks. An elephant's trunk was hanging rather grotesquely out from the side. A feeling of disgust began to arise in Simba's stomach, or perhaps it was literal vomit?

"You cannot be _that _hungry?" Simba exclaimed watching the pair move in on the corpse.

"Your highness, we are always _that_ hungry." Shenzi told him. Simba decided not to watch the next part.

Zira watched Kovu breathe in and out on his throne. The little cub had a strict routine as part of his training. When he wasn't being trained in the art of war he would be either sleeping or eating, if she was feeling generous she may let him play with Vitani or go explore the area under the protection of another member of the pride. He was deep asleep now, Kovu was difficult to wake in this stage so she could be as loud as she wanted without fear of waking the future king. She hated to admit it but watching Kovu sleep even calmed her slightly and being calm was not the way to revenge, no. You must be completely on guard for the slightest bit of news for the moment to strike. Being calm just leads to excessive caution and missed opportunities. The soft padding sound of a walking cub came from behind, as there was only one other cub in the pride Zira knew instantly who was there. "Vitani, where's your brother?" She snarled.

"I haven't seen him since last night, mother." The freckled cub replied. Zira snarled again this time to herself.

"That fool had best be here soon or he gets no free time for the rest of the dry season." Zira spat.

"Don't you think you're being a bit harsh on him, mother? What if he got into trouble, you know what he's like." The little cub asked her.

A sudden rage filled Zira as she rounded on her daughter. "He gets what he deserves!" Vitani flinched, jumping backwards slightly. "If he's in trouble then it's the idiots fault. I don't know why you stick up for him sometimes. You questioning me is going to kill me killed some day, Vitani." Zira growled.

"Mother!" Came another voice following by loud crashes as Nuka ran into the throne room to join his family. "You'll never guess what I did!" He shouted unable to contain his glee, he began to bound around the room laughing to himself.

"Where have you been, fool?" Zira asked him.

"Were you worried about me, mother?" Nuka asked with a massive toothy grin on his face.

"Hardly, it was your turn to watch Kovu." She snarled.

"Oh, right." He stopped jumping around for a moment and shot Kovu a disdainful look. "You don't need to bother with him anymore, mother. I proved myself last night." He reared up attempting a grand pose but began scratching himself behind the ear. His grin returned reaching from ear to ear. "I killed Simba!" He shouted then giving a maddened giggle. There was pause while Zira attempted to register exactly what he'd just said.

"Did not." Was all Vitani said.

"Did too." Nuka replied, giving his sister a disproving look, which she returned with one brow raised.

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too." Zira rolled her eyes.

"Did not ."

"Did too."

"ENOUGH!" Zira roared. Kovu stirred slightly, shifting his position. Zira walked over and began to stroke him muttering "hush." While shooting daggers at her two children as if it were their fault. "Nuka," he moved forward slightly as if summoned. "If this is true, and I'm only considering it because not even you would tell such lies, then you shall be rewarded." Nuka shuddered with anticipation. "If it is not…" Zira bared her claws. Nuka shuddered with fear. "Now leave, the pair of you, before you wake our prince." She said giving Kovu another stroke.

"You shouldn't have told her that lie." Vitani said to her brother as the two left. "Now you're going to be in big really big trouble."

_A/N: Ah Rafiki. Is he an ape or a mandrill. Not even the shows creators seem to have any idea. For the sake of this story he is an ape. I enjoy reading every review I can get. It brings me a little smile to see that come up on my email so please leave one if you can._


	5. there's your history lesson

Simba felt his excitement building up. The rocky walls were beginning to disappear and green was starting to poke through occasional cracks and crevices. "We're almost there, aren't we?" He asked the hyenas.

"Well we're making good time." Shenzi told him. She glanced upward at the sun. "With luck, you may be able to get back by sunset."

"Wow. This is great going." Simba smiled as he felt a gust of wind ruffle through his mane. It had been a while since the elephant attack and Simba had decided to push the incident to the back of his mind. "Can I ask you something?"

"No." Banzai replied.

"Oh, I just thought…"

"He's just messing. Go on, I like talking on long walks." Shenzi said.

"What are you going to do once I get back?" Asked Simba.

"You get help for Ed. That's all we're asking. Then we leave and if we're lucky, we will never have to look at your ugly face again." Shenzi replied as she and Banzai began to laugh.

"Yeah, funny." Simba rolled his eyes. "What could I do for Ed?"

"Whatever it takes." Was all Banzai replied with.

"I need a little more to go on than that."

"That's why you're not the medicine man, kingy." Shenzi said. "Maybe your monkey has something we could bring to him, I dunno, but this is something to think about a bit later, got it?"

"Alright then." Simba nodded. "But how's Rafiki going to know what he could do? He'd have to come here." Simba heard a crunch beneath his paw, he looked down to find he'd trodden on a dusty skull. He sighed and took in the sights and smells of the surrounding area then shook his head. "How do you even live here?" He asked the hyenas, starting to appreciate their plight.

"We manage." Shenzi told him. "Work as a team and you can do anything, we're smaller than a lion so individually we wouldn't stand a chance in a one on one fight, so we work as a unit to bring them down. Same when hunting prey, same with basic survival. I bet you've never seen a hyena by itself, it just doesn't happen, we're stronger as one. It's the way we're used to. Been this way all our lives." Said Shenzi.

"But it's worse now." Banzai told him. "I mean we have to scavenge everything we can get now. At least in the old days we could pass up a meal if we wanted."

"Wait. All your lives? There must have been some point when you were free to come and go when you pleased?" Simba asked them.

"We were real young back then." Shenzi explained. "Don't remember too much."

"Then why were you exiled?" Simba asked.

Banzai began to growl. "I don't think it would be good for you to hear…"

"I want to." Simba said firmly. "I don't think my father ever explained it." He began to think of a time when someone had mentioned why the hyenas were forced to live in the graveyard but he couldn't recall it, it was just the way it was. Hyenas were bad so they lived in the graveyard.

"It was a long time ago." Shenzi began.

...

The three hyena cubs were diving in and out of the thorn bushes. They cackled with amusement as their lion friend howled with pain attempting to follow them but only getting caught by the sharp plants. Taka the lion cub shook his way out of the bush, he felt very insulted that his friends could do something better than him, if only because of their slightly smaller build.

"That was great!" Banzai shouted as Ed leapt on Taka with excitement. The three hyenas began to jump around Taka with delight. Taka just huffed and looked down his nose at them.

"Oh, come on, Taka. Give us a smile." Shenzi looked him in the eyes. Again Taka huffed and turned his head the opposite way. "Never turn your back on a predator!" Shenzi shouted and pounced on the young lion, knocking the pair to the floor. Taka attempted to get the upper hand but Banzai and Ed joined the fray, pinning the lion to the floor. The hyenas began to laugh as Taka struggled to shake the three bodies off of him. It took a moment but before long Taka began to chuckle as well. It was much softer than the laughter from his friends but it was one of genuine amusement. He then gave a quick swipe to Ed's snout with his right paw knocking the hyena off with a small yelp. Taka managed to squirm his way out from being under the other two hyenas and made off for a chase.

"No you don't!" Banzai shouted before he knocked Taka back to the ground, right onto an ants nest. After a few brief seconds of rolling around, the two leapt up scratching themselves all over, much to the amusement of Shenzi and Ed. While Taka and Banzai rolled on the floor to get rid of their itching, Shenzi and Ed rolled on the floor with laughter.

"Stop it you're killing me!" Shenzi just managed to splutter between laughter.

"This is not funny." Taka complained, rubbing his back on a rock.

"Oh, right. This ant funny." Shenzi laughed again. "Get it? Ant-Ain't?" She budged Ed who also burst into hysterics, even Banzai began to cackle. Taka just sighed and buried his face in his paw.

"Well then perhaps I should leave now. The king, my father that is, will no doubt be wanting me." Taka said with that odd voice he used to sound important, one that would later become his default voice.

"You need to work on that accent, Taka." Shenzi told him. He just snorted.

"This is how to speak properly." He replied.

"Not unless you learn how to actually use the accent." Banzai sniggered.

"Fine." Taka snapped losing the accent.

"Besides, you can't go yet." Shenzi pleaded. "We're having so much fun."

"Love to stay but must be going." Taka told her.

"oh, bye." She said disheartened and turned to Ed with her back to Taka.

"Never turn your back on a predator!" Taka shouted as he pounced on Shenzi.

"You'll pay for that one!" Shenzi laughed as Ed and Banzai ran in to assist. It was a few hours later that the four stopped playing with exhaustion. After just panting on the floor for a little while, Ed began to whine.

"What's wrong with him?" Taka asked. Banzai followed Ed's line of sight up to the sky.

"Nearly midday." Banzai said. "We need to find shade."

"I saw this great tree earlier!" Shenzi told them excitedly. "Really high but it looked easy to climb. I don't think it was that far away." It didn't take too long for them to reach Shenzi's tree and sure enough all four managed to scramble their way up to the highest branches. It was more difficult for Taka but the young lion managed. In truth the tree wasn't that high but its position on a hilltop and small size of the cubs made it seem that way.

"Whoa." Banzai gasped at the view of the African horizon. "You can see everything from here."

"Told ya." Shenzi smiled smugly at him. That sat in the tree for a while, the leaves and branches sheltering them from the harsh sun.

"Ed! Don't eat that!" Banzai snapped as the dim-witted hyena began to munch on one of the fruits. "Your stomach can't handle fruit." Ed just giggled slightly and took another bite. "Fine but if you get belly ache, I warned ya."

"Why is there so much movement?" Taka quizzed his companions. Across the plains numerous animals of all levels of importance had been running around back and forth for some time.

"I dunno." Shenzi shrugged. "Hey, maybe there's a fight." She said eagerly, the other two hyenas nodded with excitement.

"Well what are we waiting for?" Banzai asked. "Let's go! I hope it's between a rhino and a hippo."

Taka just snorted. "This is why I'm the oldest and the smartest. There is no way a fight would attract this much attention and for so long." He said.

"Alright then genius, what is going on?" Banzai asked him.

Taka paused in thought for a moment before responding with "They must have just noticed I've been missing all morning and the king has authorised a search." He said an air of arrogance.

"Yeah right…" Shenzi whispered to Ed who nodded with agreement.

"Yes an emergency. I understand." An adult voice emerged into hearing range from behind where they were looking. They all carefully spun around in the tree to get a look at the incoming stranger, except Ed who continued to gaze into the distance. There were actually two beings walking up to the tree now, both lionesses. One of them Taka recognised as Mlinzi, one of the king's bodyguards and pointed this out to his friends, she had a dark fur colouring, much like Taka himself. The other was someone he recognised from the pride but couldn't name, she was a much lighter shade of creamy white.

"Do you have any idea as to the nature of this emergency?" Mlinzi asked the lioness.

"I only know what I heard from the cheetahs. Someone attempted to kill the king." Taka gave a sharp intake of breath and moved delicately across a branch to give himself a better view.

"Not just anybody, it was Banagi." Mlinzi told her.

"Oh I knew it. I knew that guy was messed up." The lioness shook her head in disgust. At this Shenzi and Banzai also crawled along the same branch to get a clearer view. The branch shook violently at the extra weight.

"Idiots!" Taka hissed back at the hyenas who simply blinked in response.

"He always struck me as a little wrong as well. From what I've heard he tried to get the other animals on his side and lead a 'glorious revolution' against our 'tyrannical monarchy'. Well he had a gift with words but it didn't save him from defeat." Mlinzi said.

"First he takes over the hyena clans but that's not enough for him so he tries this. I hope he gets what he deserves." The lioness said as they both settled into the shade of the tree. Unaware that Shenzi, Banzai and Taka were dangling on the branch above them.

"It's not that simple, really. Only some of the other hyenas are in Banagi's control. There are a lot of free clans roaming around. It's only that Banagi's is the most powerful and famous. Whether the king will see it as such remains to be seen. I only wish I'd been there instead of out hunting, I'd have shown those stupid hyenas how a real lioness fights." Mlinzi snarled. The branch began to shake again and creaked loudly. Ed had noticed his friends all sat along the same branch and had come to join them.

"ED NO!" All three shouted but it was too late as the branch snapped off from the tree sending the youngsters crashing down next to the two lionesses. The lighter one screamed in surprise but Mlinzi sprang into action tensing her claws and arching her back. She hissed and growled until she recognised one of the figures in the heap.

"Taka?" She addressed the young lion.

"Erm.. hi." He replied, his head restricted by Ed's backside on it.

"What were you doing there?"

"I was just playing with my friends…" Taka struggled to his feet.

"You were spying on us. You weren't meant to hear any of that." She sighed. "Why can't you be more like your brother, he's so well behaved."

"I don't want to hear about how my brother is better than me, he's not!" Taka said whilst looking at the ground.

"You could do with learning from Mufasa's example someday." Mlinzi lectured Taka but only then seemed to notice his friends. "Hello there children." She greeted the hyenas looking slightly nervous. There was a pause before Ed muttered a greeting in response. "Which clan do you three belong to?" She asked.

"Not Banagi's one." Shenzi replied immediately. "We heard what you said." The lioness looked a little relieved by this.

"It may be best if you go back home for now then. I should take Taka back, come." She addressed Taka with the last part. The four said their goodbyes and parted ways. It would be the last time Shenzi, Banzai and Ed could walk freely upon the Pridelands until Taka, who would fashion himself a new identity, became king. Within the following day, the king declared all hyenas to be a threat to the way of life for the other animals. They had been given the same privileges as other animals but had broken the trust of the lions. They would be banished from the earliest opportunity. There were protests from hyenas and their sympathisers but the king's mind was made up, for too long had they been pests, with many becoming thugs and hooligans now such a serious attempt could not be forgiven. Although the king recognised that not all hyenas were to blame, there was no way to determine the innocent from the collaborators and the risk was too great to do nothing. The decision was controversial but final. No hyena could set foot in the Pridelands.

...

"I... didn't know that." Simba admitted.

"Yeah, well there's your history lesson." Shenzi said.

"If I'd have been king, I would have done it differently." Simba told them.

"No you wouldn't." Banzai snapped. "Look at the Outsiders, there are cubs there."

"But it's better for them to be with their families more than with the rest of us." Simba said.

"Exactly what they told us." Banzai snarled.

"Well, if my father had known about it..." Simba started but was interrupted.

"Your Dad knew, he still did nothing!" Banzai hissed.

"Drop it, both of you! Now isn't the time." Shenzi raised her voice but did it with control, not shouting or yelling, it shut Banzai up straight away but he still shot Simba a nasty look, which Simba returned. "Banzai we'll never know if Mufasa did or didn't know about the reason for our exile but right now we don't start a fight with the current king about it." Banzai growled softly with submission. Simba couldn't help but feel a slight admiration towards Shenzi's leadership, she knew how to control the other hyenas, always had done, how else could so many hyenas have joined her with Scar? Then on her orders have completely turned on him? The hyena's story had given Simba a lot to think about, it was bad enough that his grandfather had exiled them all based on the actions of one clan but Banzai's words stung him most. Had his father truly known but continued to treat the hyenas as the scum of the earth? There must be more to it, Shenzi and her clan hadn't exactly been innocent victims their whole lives, he'd heard some horrible stories about what they'd done in power. Now he found himself longing to speak to his father again, maybe once he got back he could ask Zazu or Rafiki about it, they might know something.

…...

Pavu walked slowly up to the shrine. She savoured the feel of each rocky step under her paws, the unique scent of the throne and its occupant on it drifted downwards, she gleefully inhaled the smell. She loved this part, her heart hammering with excitement as she approached the throne on top of the shrine.

"My master." She grovelled on the floor. "You requested my presence?" She asked hopefully. The elderly hyena rose his head.

"Pavu, my dear beauty." She squirmed with pleasure. The age gap between them was insane, she was hardly an adult, she had the youth and looks to get any mate she should so chose but she would only want him, nothing would please her more than to be embraced by the one she thought of as nothing less than a God, alas he was above such basic pleasures now so all she could was admire him from a distance and serve him unflinchingly. "I have heard from a dear friend of mine that the lion king has come to join us out here." He chuckled softly.

Pavu gasped "But why would that cretin dare come to our paradise, my lord?" She asked him.

"We cannot be certain..." He gazed into the sky in thought.

"He has come to kill you." She gasped louder, one hundred terrible thoughts crossing her mind. "It can be the only reason."

"The only reason?" The aged hyena raised an eyebrow. "You are more naïve than I had hoped..."

"No! Forgive me. I only cannot think why else he would come." She said, far less composed than she would have liked to appear.

"My information tells me that he is accompanied by two hyenas and what will you make of this?" He asked her.

"Traitors." She snarled. "They should torn apart, they deserve nothing less."

The aged hyena gave a dark smile. "What if they are there by necessity?" he quizzed.

"There is no necessity to excuse such behaviour." She said immediately.

"Good. You are learning well, I have high hopes for you, Pavu." Her heart skipped a beat and she felt slightly giddy.

"Thank you, my master." She said breathlessly.

"and now we have much to discuss." Banagi said a wicked toothy grin spreading across his greying face.

...

_A/N: Banagi was the original antagonist in the early drafts of the Lion King. As the hyena leader he plotted against Mufasa and eventually convinced the gigantic rouge brute, Scar, to challenge Mufasa as king. Mufasa died and Scar becomes the puppet king of Banagi and the hyenas. Banagi's manipulative nature and charm was eventually rewritten to become part of Scar's character instead. Also looking back at the last chapter I must have had some sort of moment there as when I referred to Rafiki as an ape I meant Baboon. I am aware that Mandrills are a kind of ape._

_This chapter was originally shorter but I decided to expand the 'flashback' to show the closeness between the cub, Scar and the hyena trio. It's one of the background themes of this story and I find the relationship between Scar and the main three hyenas as one of the most interesting relationships in the films along with Timon-Pumbaa-Simba and Zira-Nuka-Kovu-Vitani._

_If you read all this I would enjoy reviews, I enjoy writing and would update anyway but they just make me feel good or help me improve. I am greatful for all those who've done so this far so thank you guys :D_


	6. Do you accept my challenge?

Pavu felt a rush of emotion fall over her as she observed the king from the unnoticed shadows. Banagi had been right, as he always was. She paced back and forth deciding her next move, just charging out at them would be suicide so she had to be smart about this. She considered returning for backup but the idea of her gloriously returning to Banagi with this 'Simba's' head in her jaws after single-handedly killing him was too great to share that moment with anybody. She sized up her opponents, the lion was massive and muscular so she couldn't win with brute force and the two hyenas didn't exactly look weak either. Tapping her claws on a nearby rock she racked her brains until an idea formed itself in her mind. Then one came, it was risky and could get her killed but it also seemed like her best chance. Infiltration. If the king was as honourable as he so pretended then it would work, if not, well then she would die a martyr. Bracing herself slightly beforehand she bit her front leg then let out a sharp yell of pain, it gathered the attention of the trio ahead.

"What was that?" The lion asked.

"Sounds like someone is hurt, we can't help them, come on." The female hyena began to walk off.

"We can try." The lion ran backward towards Pavu followed by another hyena who was cursing under his breath. After a quick search they found her huddled over and nursing her bleeding leg.

"Help me." She pleaded in her most pathetic, yet sweet voice.

"Er… let me take a look." The male hyena said and she held out her leg, pretending to wince as she did it.

"That's just a scratch." The female dismissed her. "I've had worse injuries standing on a pebble."

"I don't know Shenzi, looks like she was attacked." The male said.

"So what do you think happened Banzai? Someone bit her leg and then ran off? More likely she attacked somebody else who fought back." Shenzi scoffed.

"My name is Simba. What's yours?" The lion asked her gently.

Using her real name would be foolish, just in case they'd heard of her, after all you could not have heard of Banagi's most faithful student? "I am Ungo. I think I've heard of your name before, Simba." She told him.

"Well maybe." Simba shrugged with a hint of a smile. "Can you walk?" He asked.

"I've seen animals walk with three legs." Shenzi said.

"I think so." Pavu 'struggled' to her feet.

"Great then you can come with us until we find someplace safe for you." Simba assured her.

"Whoa whoa whoa." Shenzi shot daggers at him. "Simba, can I talk to you?"

"Go ahead."

"Away from the girl." She hissed.

"We can't just leave her here. She might die." Simba voice rose slightly. Shenzi ran over to him shaking her head.

"Listen up, we are in dangerous ground here. Any hyena, hell, anything I don't know cannot be trusted. If the rumours about who runs this part of the land are true then it's a good reason to leave her to the vultures." Pavu felt a flash of anger. _Rumours? All should know the glorious leader of this land. _She thought but retrained the urge to tell these fools with whom they were dealing with.

"We could take her with us just for a little bit." Banzai offered. "You know until she gets her legs back in shape."

"I cannot believe you." Shenzi sighed. "Alright, alright. But when she gets us killed you two can't blame me."

..

"Can't keep up Ungo?" Shenzi mocked her from up front.

"Of course I can." She replied angrily, letting her pride get the better of her.

"Oh, so your leg is fine." Shenzi mocked again.

"Well no." She said slowing down slightly.

"Shenzi please just drop it." Banzai told her. She snorted back at him. Banzai had been staring at her every so often during their walk, they'd been going for barely half hour but Pavu had caught him looking about four times.

"Who do these rumours say is in charge in this area now?" Simba asked clearly looking to stop the arguing.

"Well it might be Banagi." Banzai shrugged. "He must be old now though, even the psycho is even alive." _Psycho? _She tried not to gasp out loud. _Have these fools no respect? _

"That freak is a disgrace. Maybe he had something once but being out here would be enough to turn any mad." Shenzi spat.

"That's the guy who got you exiled, right?" Simba asked. Both hyenas growled.

"If I met that guy do you know what I'd do?" Banzai asked.

"I dunno what?" Shenzi asked him. Banzai then went into graphic detail which made Pavu's skin crawl. "I don't think that's harsh enough, Banzai." Shenzi giggled and the two hyenas began to cackle.

"You guys are giving me the creeps. Stop it." Simba shuddered slightly.

"Oh, sorry for upsetting your royal tastes." Shenzi sneered. She'd also let something slip. This was the king! Pavu looked around for some way to use the environment for her advantage. It was just barren, there was nothing she could use. Shenzi had gone onto another rant about her master with Banzai nodding in approval. It was taking all her restraint not to snap out at them. "And I heard his followers have turned into some mad cult which he just sacrifices on insane quests to gain his approval. There may have been a time when the guy was respectable but now he's just some madman with even madder followers." Shenzi finished but she was immediately pounced on by Pavu.

"How dare you?" She screamed attempting to tear out the throat of the other hyena. "He will be our salvation." She snarled but was then slammed in the side of her ribs by a powerful force. As she rose to her feet she saw the lion standing over Shenzi, protecting her from another attack. Banzai began to circle, snarling and getting ever closer. She had failed. Turning tail, she ran back to inform her master. At least she'd managed to suss out the situation.

..

"Are you OK?" Simba asked Shenzi as he stood over her. She had several scratches but it looked like any serious harm had been avoided. She simply blinked up in shock at Simba for a moment before speaking.

"Huh? Yeah I'm fine." She said getting to her feet. "I told you two to leave her." Shenzi's mood suddenly soured. "But you, your majesty, can't resist being a friend to all living things and you Banzai, just can't resist a pretty face." She snarled.

"Sorry." A blushing Banzai said as he gazed at the ground.

"We've got to move." She suddenly panicked. "She'll have gone back to her master and that'll mean trouble."

"It's not too far until we reach the outlands, you know." Banzai said.

"Then we get there as fast as we can." Shenzi nodded. "Got that?" She asked Simba.

"Right." He replied. Then they ran. But all too soon did they hear the cackling of hyenas. The galloping noise of a chase behind. They were being hunted.

"Down to the river!" Banzai yelled as he changed direction sharply to the left. Shenzi and Simba followed him closely. A lone hyena jumped in front of them but Banzai simply tackled it out of the way. "Almost there!" he shouted back at his companions. He was then slammed against a rock by another hyena. Shenzi dived onto the attacker sending them both rolling in the dust for a few moments. Simba delivered a strong smack knocking it flying with a pitiful howl. Banzai shook himself before resuming his run. "Thanks guys." He muttered. "If we can make it down to the river I know a way across."

"Banzai." Shenzi called after him. "There's only one way across the river and it is way further downstream."

"Nope." He called back. "There's a fallen tree we can crawl across. Oh boy." He skidded to a halt, sending a small dusk cloud up in front causing him to give a quick cough. Banzai had been right about the fallen tree. It was large enough for even a lion like Simba to cross and it just managed to connect both shores of the river together. It was covered in dark green moss with patches of dead peeling bark just shining through every now and then. Across the river stood the Outlands, it was unusually flat, especially compared with the lands Simba had just crossed. The sight of the Outlands actually gave Simba hope, it may have been a dead space inhabited by his mad uncle's mad loyalists but it was familiar. He was nearing home. However there was no reason to cheer just yet. Stood above the fallen tree were a group of four hyenas. One of them Simba recognised as the girl from before. She was on edge and looked ready to pounce within a second of being told to do so. The others were all large males who looked down upon the group as though they were nothing more than bored. The group parted as an elderly hyena walked through the centre. He was breathing so heavily that Simba could hear him from where he was. The hyena's movements were slow as he moved delicately across the tree. The fur on his body actually echoed the very tree he stood on with patches of light grey fur missing from his body in places and cuts here and there. His face had showed one milky white blind eye and another looking as red and bloodshot as the sunset. He leaned over toward the group and smiled.

"I see a lion." He wheezed then gave a chuckle which showed what few teeth he had left.

"Ugly little thing isn't he?" Simba whispered to Banzai who gave a sharp nod in response. It appeared that the hyena group heard him as they began to growl. The girl was almost foaming at the mouth.

"Now, now." The elderly hyena waved down his companions. "Let us keep things civil." He jumped down with great difficulty and struggled to gain his balance on the ground. Simba glanced behind him and saw the path they came down blocked by more hyenas.

"Civil?" Shenzi repeated. "When your boys back there chased us down here?"

"Perhaps they are a little bit overzealous." He shrugged.

"Overwhat?" Banzai asked.

The old hyena gave a slow tut. "It is hyenas of your intellect which give us such a poor stereotype amongst the other species."

"Hey if you want a go old man you've got it." Banzai snarled making a few steps forward. As he did so the other hyenas in the area let out loud intimidating barks and growls. "But uhh if you just want to talk that's fine too hehe." Banzai retreated back to Shenzi and Simba.

"Excellent. Now I was hoping there were a few matters I could discuss with the King." He continued in his wheezy voice.

"And what would you want of me?" Simba asked.

"Firstly, are you aware of whom you are speaking to, boy?"

"No." Simba shook his head.

The hyena look up and squinted. "No?" He repeated and began to shake. "No? I am Banagi. Hyena lord of the Pridelands." He snarled.

"You know this isn't the Pridelands." Simba told him.

"Thank you for that sound observation. I challenge you for the right to your Kingdom. One of us shall die here and the winner shall leave as undisputed ruler of the Pridelands."

"Why would I agree to that?" Asked Simba.

"Because it is the only way that you shall cross the river unopposed. Do you accept my challenge?" He smiled.

"You can beat him easy. The guy can hardly stand." Shenzi said to Simba.

"Fine." Simba stepped toward Banagi.

"Oh, you didn't think I would be competing, did you?" He gave his wheezing chuckle again. "I'm not a fool." A clatter of hooves smacking against the floor accompanied the appearance of one large buffalo. "We found this feral beast roaming the Cliffside scrounging for a trace of grass to eat. Instead it found us. Poor thing was so full of hate, I merely kept it alive in exchange for some muscle. I fear it has lost its mind. Of course that only makes it easier for me to control it." He said making his way back to his guards. "Your friends may not interfere otherwise the challenge is broken and my clan can tear you all to pieces. Do put on a good show for us, entertainment around here is somewhat lacking." Within a second of Banagi finishing his sentence Simba had to dodge the horns of the mighty buffalo. It snorted with rage and kicked out at Simba.

"Hit it in the face!" Banzai called.

"Don't listen to him, he's an idiot. The face is where the horns are." Shenzi shouted.

"Turn its anger against it." Simba muttered under his breath. Again the buffalo charged and again Simba dodged the jagged horns by an inch. Simba had far more movability than his opponent but it was countered by the brute strength and thick defence that the buffalo had. He would have to use brains. Simba ran circles around the buffalo as it struggled to find a way to attack. "Come on! Come on!" Simba shouted to hype himself up. He stopped for the briefest of moments in front of the fallen tree carrying Banagi and his guards. The buffalo saw the pause in Simba's movements and attacked. Simba leapt onto the fallen tree causing surprise among the hyenas who moved back a few steps. Simba then leapt off as quickly as he'd been on and in that moment the buffalo collided with the tree shaking it slightly. The hyenas were thrown off balance and one of them fell off into the river. The current washed the unfortunate hyena downstream as it howled for rescue. Simba pounced onto the back of the buffalo, roaring as he slashed the creature's back. It was a gruesome spectacle as the beast attempted to throw Simba off but his claws dug deeper into the buffalo causing it more pain. Eventually Simba could hold on no longer as he gave a powerful kick at the creatures leg knocking it off balance and creating an avenue for him to jump away. The buffalo collapsed breathing deeply. "It's over." Simba called out.

"It can't be." Banagi muttered softly. He again left the safety of the fallen tree and made his way to the buffalo. "You must fight." He snarled at it. "This is my glorious ascension of which is at stake." The buffalo snorted and looked away. "You will obey me!" Banagi shouted suddenly losing the calmness which had emanated from him before. He head-butted the buffalo in a vain attempt to move it. The buffalo suddenly lashed out and smashed Banagi with a sickening crunch, knocking the elderly hyena onto his back. The female screamed and leapt onto the buffalo tearing at it with her teeth. The rest of the guard joined in attacking the buffalo from all sides as it threw them individually.

"I think we should go now." Shenzi shouted at Simba as he watched the carnage. She was right, the tree was unprotected. The three dashed across the tree to the other side and didn't stop running until the sounds of battle were in the distance.

"Do you think he's dead?" Banzai asked as they slowed down.

"What does it matter? We got away." Shenzi replied.

"The Outlands." Simba said under his breath. "We made it."

"What was that?" Shenzi asked.

"We're in the Outlands. I know where we are. Nearly back at Priderock. Nearly home." He smiled as he thought of the friends and family which awaited him.

"Yeah well don't get too cosy." Shenzi said. "We're not in friendly grounds yet." Zira popped into Simba's mind and if her thirst for his blood was just as strong as it was when she was banished alongside others who supported Scar then Shenzi was right

..

Zazu had avoided searching the kingdoms of exiles even though he knew that the river could have washed Simba down there. There was a particularly nasty gang of vultures there who would bother him every time he entered their airspace but Nala had insisted that whatever the vultures did was nothing compared to what an angry lioness could do to him. She had a point. He scanned the skies with superciliousness distain for vultures. Then glanced at the ground every so often for Simba. It wasn't that he didn't want to find Simba it was just that he, quite rightly placed his own safety first. After all if he got into trouble it was unlikely that everyone would get as worked up as they were now. But as luck would have it he did spot something. He almost cried with joy. It was Simba. Problem was he wasn't alone. Surrounded by a gang of vicious looking hyenas and being chased by a buffalo. Zazu contemplated his next move. Looking at Simba's location he was attempting to cross the tree into the Outlands and make his way back from there. Zazu could be of no help here. He decided to minimise risk to himself and retreat back to inform everyone at Priderock as quickly as his wings would carry him.

..

(A/N) _Sorry this took a while. I went on holiday for a while. I tried to finish this chapter before I left but wasn't satisfied with it. Anyway please review if you liked._


	7. But we had a deal

"Are you sure it was him?" Zira asked her son for the third time. As Kovu's nap time was over she was free to discuss Nuka's rather absurd claim.

"Yes! I'm telling you, mother. Simba tried to kill me so I threw him into the chasm!" He giggled. "Like father like son isn't it?"

Zira roared at him. "You dare compare yourself to Scar! You are nothing but a wretch and a fool. I would say you were a shadow of your father but you don't even amount to that. You are weaker in both brains and brawn." She spat. Nuka had lost all glee. He no longer was bouncing like a moron around the termite mound and he'd lost that ridiculous grin.

"I… I meant Simba falling… just like Mufasa, mother." He gazed at the ground his eyes out of focus.

"Oh." She regained control over her emotions. "If so I apologise. But the king is dead?"

"Yes mother." Nuka replied quietly. A slow laughter echoed through the room. Like that of a baboon. "Who's there?" Nuka asked, suddenly in a panic. He began spinning around in a circle. "Vitani, knock it off." He shouted. Again laughter echoed and a scarred ape jumped out of the darkness in front of Nuka. The lion screamed and ran behind his mother for protection.

"Coward." She muttered. "Who are you? How did you get in here?" She addressed the baboon.

"Unimportant questions." He hand waved them away. "Your boy lies about the fate of the king." He pointed an accusing finger at Nuka.

"Mother, no. I am telling the truth. Who do you believe your own son or this crazy stranger monkey?" She glared at him. "Don't answer that." He looked upon the ground again.

"I have seen him walk through my lands, his very spirit corrupts those he touches and has slain some dear friends of mine along the way." The baboon continued. "My name is Maler, dear lioness, a shaman from the old days and I gather that you may have a reason to help me with my crusade against this fiend." The baboon bowed before her. Zira could admit his manor was pleasing and he had at least answered one of her questions.

"You wish to aid Kovu's assent to the throne?" She asked.

"Oh." The baboon said, a dawning of comprehension showing on his face. "You plan a coup." He chuckled. "It will indeed be a great day when the crown is torn from Mufasa and his kin. Perhaps I may offer my services to you and I hope his replacement will walk the true path of a purer soul." His smile disappeared all of a sudden and was replaced by a frown as he looked upon Nuka who was still keeping his distance. "This isn't the one, is it?"

"Nuka? Of course not, the boy has nothing kingly to his name." Zira said spiting in disgust and the smile returned to Maler's face.

"H-hey I could-" Nuka began but was cut off by a harsh shhing sound from his mother so he instead retreated into the shadows. Zira was still as reluctant as ever to trust a stranger yet this one intrigued her so.

"What information do you bring to me and what help could you offer?" She asked

"I can tell you that the king is tired and has walked many miles this day. He has been hounded by constant threats, which I naturally arranged." He chuckled again. "Unfortunately he has survived each encounter but this is now our chance. He must cross your lands if he wishes to return to the safety of his kingdom."

"Wait, so he will be here? All alone?" Zira laughed an awful mirthless laugh.

"Alas. He will not be alone. Last I saw he was accompanied by two hyenas." Maler ground his teeth together.

"Hyenas?" Zira's anger reached boiling point. "I'll enjoy tearing them apart too." She snarled slashing at an ingrowing root.

"Err but mother" Nuka's voice echoed from the shadows. "in all the stories about father's rule the hyenas were on our side."

"Did you forget the ending?" She hissed. "Hyenas took poor Scar for everything he had and then left him to die at Simba's hands. Those cretins had no sense of loyalty, they showed their true colours in the end, selfishness and greed, the cowards fled. It showed Scar's only mistake, trusting a lower species. Now they aid what should be their enemy." She noticed a dozen or so blinking yellow pairs eyes watching in the darkness. Her pride had come to see the commotion. "But this is only fitting." She addressed not just the baboon or Nuka but the whole room and every lioness in it as she climbed onto a heightened perch to look down upon the others in the room. "Simba and the traitors shall die together, just as it should have been the night Scar died. They shall perish by the claws of true lioness, of truly loyal subjects, faithful to only the true ruler of the Pridelands. King Scar!" She roared and the pride roared with her.

..

The sounds of hostile hyenas had faded away now and all that was left for Simba's ears were the chirping of crickets. The Outlands were just as he remembered them. Every movement caused dust clouds from the craggy brown earth. It was easier to count the dead plants than the living with the occasional tuffs of half dead grass poking through the ground and only the odd thin tree to offer any kind of protection from the harsh sunlight. Thankfully the midday sun had gone otherwise they stood no chance crossing without passing out from the heat. Insects crawled by Simba's feet burrowing themselves into the ground under his long shadow. Simba needed a snack, the bugs just reminded him of how hungry he was starting to get. '_This is a miserable dried up place' _Simba thought to himself. '_I've sent cubs to live here.'_ He was struck by a sudden feeling of guilt about the situation. The hyenas however were a lot happier and had already begun to crack jokes about the situation. Simba resumed walking to where he now knew home was but Banzai protested.

"Can't we just stay here and rest for a little bit?" He asked.

"Not with Zira around. You don't know here like I do. She's insane." Simba replied. Banzai whined a little.

"He's right." Shenzi agreed. "If we stay too long out here we'll get caught and I do not want that one catching us with him." She said inclining her head toward Simba. "No offence." She added.

"None taken." He sighed and started walking off towards the Pridelands.

"It's safer if we follow the river." Banzai called to him. "We've got less chance of being spotted."

"Oh, good idea." Simba nodded and kept to the riverside. They had been walking for some time when Banzai suddenly stopped. His ears pricked up and joints became ridged. He sniffed the air for a moment.

"Smell something?" Shenzi asked him.

"Yeah." He replied. A small rustling sound came from a large patch of grass. "You hear that?"

"Sure it's not the wind?" Shenzi asked but Banzai just shook his head. Simba started to feel a little tense, they were being watched, and he could feel it.

Banzai snarled at the patch of grass then ripped part of it out with his jaws reviling a lion cub. "Nice try." He told her. The cub was brownish in colour to match the environment she lived in. Her most distinctive feature was the large tuff of fur on her head but she would still be recognisable by her freckles and bright blue eyes with a dash of amber mixed in. She backed away slightly looking like someone trying to hide their fear. "Going somewhere, Vitani?" Banzai sneered baring his teeth. The little cub swiped his snout causing the hyena to flinch backward slightly with a sharp intake of breath. "Good one." He told her. "You've still got to work on your sneaking though."

"I'm trying." She shrugged, suddenly relaxed.

"Hold up." Shenzi said sounding a little confused. "You know her?" She asked Banzai.

He nodded. "It was a slow hunting day so I came all the way up here looking for food. Got something around here Vitani here was watching me and I shared it with her." He seemed a little embarrassed hopping from one foot to the other. "I come up here every so often and we mess around." He looked down at the ground and began fidgeting with a pebble.

"Aw isn't that sweet." Shenzi giggled. "Banzai the babysitter." She laughed loudly.

"I'm not a baby." The cub said defiantly then gave a small roar which reminded Simba of himself as a cub. So far Simba had stayed quiet. This cub was an outsider who would be sure to inform the others of him although the cub had paid him no attention what so ever, maybe she didn't know his face. "Who's this?" She asked suddenly turning her attention on Simba and his heart began to quicken.

Both hyenas looked at one another then started talking at the same time. "oh you mean him? Who? I don't know him. He's a friend. A friend of a friend really. Yeah." They were saying, speaking over each other. The cub, Vitani, just looked at Simba with puzzlement. Simba had seen his own reflection recently and he was dirty with a few scratches here and there. He didn't quite look like royalty but he was still well built and well fed so he hardly looked like he fitted in with the scrawny, starving outsiders.

"erm, Banzai, tell your friend we're in a rush." Shenzi gave a fixed smile.

"We're in a rush." He repeated quickly and nervously. "Bye." He shouted and gave a half run, half trot away.

"Hey Banzai, wait." Shenzi called and went after him, leaving Simba with Vitani. Simba cleared his throat and nodded to the cub before following the hyenas. When he caught up with them Shenzi was talking to him. "…really close one. Do you think she knew?"

"I don't know. She's not stupid." Banzai shrugged.

"Being out here could be enough to make cubs tougher and smarter for their age." Simba sighed.

"Still I didn't know you had a friend out here Banzai." Shenzi smiled at him, neither Simba nor banzai could tell if it was sarcastic or not.

"She's quite nice." Banzai said.

"Oh yeah. I'm sure any offspring between Zira and Scar is a delight." She scoffed.

"Zira and… that was Scar's daughter." Simba looked back over his shoulder but the girl had gone. "She'll tell Zira we're here." Simba started to panic.

"Just relax, your majesty." Shenzi assured him. "We're not too far now, it'll be fine. We'll be out before the psycho knows we're here." Unfortunately she was wrong.

…

It was a short while later that they had been ambushed. Simba wasn't sure what happened. They had been walking one moment and fighting the next. Zira had been awaiting them along with a large group of her supporters and Simba thought he briefly saw the creepy Baboon from earlier slapping his hands on the floor with glee. Zira had been screaming insults and threats but Simba hadn't been listening to what it was she had said. Simba eventually managed to claw his way out of the attack and ran as fast as he could, he'd been chased but had lost the pursuers and now stood alone and panting. At least he thought he was alone.

"Simba!" a voice called for him. It was a wonderful voice, one which immediately made him feel more comfortable, it made him feel safe. He turned to meet the voice and his wish was true.

"Nala!" he called back to her. The lioness was bounding towards him with amazing speed, she was leaping meters at a time. Just behind her Pumbaa was trotting as fast as he could with Timon on his back, pulling Pumbaa's hair like a rein, they both held massive grins on their faces and above them all flew Zazu, fluttering along attempting to hide clear excitement behind his remaining dignity.

"Simba, I missed you." She said rubbing herself against him.

"I missed you too." He replied while returning her affection.

"Very nice, but how about noticing the rest of us?" Timon said and Simba gave Timon and Pumbaa a hug. "Now that's more like it, pal." Timon said.

"Are you OK?" The warthog asked him.

"I'm fine now you guys are here, Pumbaa." Simba said, finally reunited with his friends.

"Sire." Zazu bowed so low his forehead almost hit the ground. Simba gave the bird a playful ruffle of his feathers, which he had always hated.

"I was so scared." Nala was saying. "Some had lost hope that you'd lived but I hadn't. I knew it." She again rubbed against him.

"And I knew it too." Timon said proudly. Pumbaa gave a short grunt and Timon huffed. "Fine _we_ knew it too."

"How'd you guys find me?" He asked the group.

"I happened to spot you during one of our many searches, sire." Zazu said looking even more full of himself than usual. "Once I had done so I returned to the queen immediately."

"We heard the report and tagged along." Timon explained his appearance. "Although I've got to ask." He looked around the dead landscape. "What's with the new hangout?"

"I had to cross this to get home. Now I've done it. I found you guys and I've done it." Simba cheered and jumped playfully on the spot.

"All by yourself. You must have been so scared, so lonely." Nala gazed into his eyes with a look of mixed pride and sympathy.

"I wasn't by myself I was with…" He turned around but no one was there. No signs of Shenzi or Banzai anywhere. "huh." He muttered. Then he felt a sudden stab of guilt. He must have left the hyenas with Zira.

"Simba!" Shenzi's voice called to him and Simba felt an odd sensation of relief. Shenzi came running into view. She didn't look as relieved as he felt. "They got Banzai!" She managed to pant out.

Nala rounded on the newcomer arching her back and roaring loudly. Zazu had taken to the air and was circling over them looking rather helpless. Timon was the only one to speak after he screamed loudly. "Run Pumbaa." He shouted tugging on Pumbaa's ears.

"But, Timon, there's only one of them and more of us." The pig argued.

"Only one of them?" Timon repeated in disbelief. "This is why I'm the brains. Hyenas are pack animals. Which means there is always more than one. While we're keeping our eyes on this one and thinking we've got this covered… BAM. We get pounced on by another on our left before you can say 'clever girl'."

"Guys it's alright." Simba told his friends. "Shenzi… she helped me get here. I might never have made it back without her." He admitted rather shyly.

"Simba, I know you're probably hungry and thirsty and tired." Timon began softly before shouting again. "BUT ARE YOU NUTS?"

"No really, we have a deal." Simba tried to explain.

Zazu landed next to him. "Sire, a deal with hyenas is unwise."

"I didn't have a choice but it's worked out." Simba looked at his friends, they all seemed uncertain.

"Yeah great, but we have to go back for Banzai now." Shenzi said. "Maybe your friends can be the cavalry?" She looked them all up and down. "Simba?" She repeated to grasp his attention. "Are we going?"

"Right." He nodded and stepped towards her but Nala jumped between them.

"Simba no." She said sternly. "You are not going to wander the Outlands looking to help some hyena."

"Nala I have to…" He began but she cut him off.

"No you don't have to. I shouldn't need to remind you that hyenas are no friend to the crown." She pleaded with him.

"But they're only here because of me." Simba explained. "Any danger is my fault."

"It's their own fault for making so many enemies." Nala shook her head. "Just come home, for me, for Kiara." The thought of his daughter looking for her father hurt Simba inside. He missed home. He missed the views from Priderock. He missed the scents and smells of the nearby watering hole. The feel of running through the long green grass. He missed the pride and Rafiki and Timon and Pumbaa but most of all he missed Nala and Kiara. "If you go to face Zira and something goes wrong, you could die. Kiara would lose her father like you lost yours. She shouldn't have to go through that. You're king. You don't need to risk your life for an exiled traitor." Nala was looking him face to face.

"You're right." Simba sighed.

"What?" Shenzi asked in shock. "No, you listen to me, we've saved your sorry backside more times than you even know today."

"It's not about that…" Simba sighed feeling like he had betrayed her trust.

"Then what is this about?" She asked angrily. "The past? Everything with Scar?"

"It counts against you." Nala said bitterly.

"Do you know what that was about, your highness? Not lust for power or revenge or anything like that. We were starving. We only wanted food. But your father wouldn't let us take a scrap. Is it any wonder why we fought for the other side?" Silence followed. "You think because you lost you dad you have it rough?" She spat. "I'm still glad he's dead." From the moment those words left her lips all sympathy was gone, in Simba's mind Shenzi once again became the ringleader of Scar's terrifying hyena minions. Simba roared with anger and struck her across the face. She gave a slight whimper as she flew backward but got to her feet quickly. "We had a deal."

"That I would command Rafiki to help your friend back at your den, nothing more. You're on your own here." Simba snarled.

"A deal with hyenas is unwise." She repeated Zazu's earlier statement, shaking her head. "I think he meant with lions. First Scar and now you." She shook her head again. No longer did she seem angry only disappointed. With that she walked off toward Zira's lair alone.

...

(A/N) _I feel rather proud of this chapter. If any of Simba's friends come off as unlikable here it's accidental, no deliberate character bashing here. Please review if you can, I enjoy seeing feedback immensely. _


	8. Having trouble with hyenas?

Shenzi sat motionless on the hill top. She was thinking over the day's events. Nightfall had hit and an amazing African sunset splashed across the skyline, she had missed this sight. In her new home it was too confined to see much of the sky. Soon the stars would be out and how she wished she could gaze at them with her two best friends. But they were both gone now. It had been foolish to trust that lion, a voice inside her head reminded her. Too much history, too much blood shed. Her instincts were telling her to hide, that she was far too exposed up here but her legs refused to move. She wasn't scared of Zira or angry at Simba, only sad. 'It's your fault really. This was all your idea. Now Banzai's captured and you've no way to help Ed or the rest of the clan.' That same voice told her. She sighed and collapsed headfirst onto the dust, throwing her paws onto her face. 'No.' a second stronger voice told her, one full of determination and will. 'Simba will still let you find the monkey, if we save Banzai, then it will all be OK.' She sat up and looked over at Zira's termite mound. 'Easier said than done.' The first voice said. 'How are you going to pull him from a gang of angry, insane lions?' It asked her. A small rustle broke her train of thoughts followed by a sudden thud and a cub's grunt. Shenzi looked for the sound's origin and saw Vitani trying to attack a small lizard near the foot of the hill. She didn't seem to have noticed the hyena. Shenzi shrugged to herself. "Got nothing to lose." She muttered. "Hey, kid." She called and the lion cub glanced up in surprise.

…

Simba tossed over again. He had been trying to sleep for a while now but he couldn't. The peaceful breathing of the rest of the pride was usually enough to send him off to sleep but now it wasn't working and he thought he knew why. Having resigned to the thought of a sleepless night he crept up, careful not to wake anyone, and stepped out into the night air. The sun had left the sky a short while ago and a blanket of darkness had covered the sky with the great kings among the stars looking down upon the kingdom. Simba felt as though the great kings were looking at him closely, judging him, as though he'd done something wrong. He shook the thought from his head. He decided to see Rafiki. The baboon would know if there was anything he could do to sleep and Simba had never actually known the ape to sleep. As Simba expected the ape was wide awake when he came calling. When Simba reached the tree Rafiki had leapt out of it chuckling.

"Simba!" He said brushing through the lion's mane with his fingers. "I am glad to see you have returned safely."

"Was my disappearance that well known?" He asked the shaman who shook his head.

"No, no. The Queen just said you were on royal business, no panic, you see. But Rafiki knows better." He said tapping his skull.

"Oh, OK then." A sudden thought struck Simba, remembering that Shenzi may come calling for the baboon and Simba thought it best inform Rafiki why a criminal wanted for a high treason may want him. "Hey, Rafiki just so you know, er, a hyena or two might be calling for you soon."

"Oh?" The ape moved his head to the side prompting Simba to continue.

"I said they could call on your medical skills in exchange for their help earlier." Simba explained.

"And they did help you?" Rafiki questioned. Simba just nodded. "Then where are they now?" Rafiki asked. Simba felt a lurch in his stomach.

"Not here." Simba replied.

"I see." Rafiki nodded. "Do you feel changed by this experience?" He asked.

"Well, I don't know." Simba said his eyes locked on a particular blade of grass.

"Hmm." Rafiki said and turned back to his tree. "A shame, your father was really hoping this may have opened your eyes to some things. Oh well." Simba spun around only to see Rafiki's foot vanish into the leaves of the massive tree.

"Hey, wait." Simba called up and attempted to climb the tree himself. It was difficult but after much slipping and scrambling he managed to find Rafiki meditating in the centre. It was a surprisingly open area which Simba guessed Rafiki constantly trimmed to keep branches out. "My father had something to do with this?" He asked the baboon.

Rafiki opened one eye from his meditation. "Took you a while to get here. I am glad I have these digits." He said suddenly breaking his meditation stance and waving his fingers and toes in Simba's face.

"Yeah, great." Simba said batting them away with his paw. "But what was that about my father?"

Rafiki shrugged. "He seemed to think that maybe you would grow from this but perhaps not." He began to mix fruits and insects together in a single bowl and stirred with a small stick.

"What did he want?" Simba asked but the ape gave no response. "Rafiki!" He cried but the baboon hushed him.

"Drink." He said after a while, holding the bowl in front of the lion.

"I want to talk." Simba said.

"We will talk when you drink." Rafiki said shaking the bowl in Simba's face. Simba decided it would be quicker to just go along with Rafiki and drank from the bowl. Once he had finished the world began to shake in front of his eyes while Rafiki merely grinned.

"Wha-" was all Simba managed to say before he passed out.

…

"Simba." A deep voice echoed.

"Father?" He gasped. Sure enough his father stood before him. A dazzling light shone from Mufasa and his fur was blowing in a non-existent wind. Simba walked slowly up to his father, mouth open as he did so. They were standing in the very same meadow where they had played together for the last time before Mufasa was murdered.

"Having trouble with hyenas?" His father said.

"Why didn't you tell me about them? Why they were exiled." Simba asked.

"You were too young to understand. If you saw them as victims, as many in the pride did, I had no doubt you would try to see them and reason with them. They would have torn you apart, Simba."

Simba nodded. "But them why didn't you help them?"

Mufasa stared long and hard at his son. "Because it was too late. By the time I was king the hyenas had descended into an entire species of criminals. If I offered them friendship they would have sharpened a knife to drive into my back. It is one of the things I regret not doing anything about."

"Then you wanted me to learn something from this. What was it, father?" Simba asked.

"I had hoped that you may save them, my son."

"But, but what makes you think I have a better chance of helping them than you did. Now they're worse than before, they helped Scar." Simba protested.

"I know what they did for my brother." Mufasa silenced him. "But you now have travelled with their leader and have saved each other's lives. Such acts create bonds between one another which cannot be broken."

"I don't want to be bonded to them." Simba shook his head.

"Simba, you must understand…"

"No. I don't understand. I… I wanted them dead. I admit it. For everything that was done. When I was growing up with Timon and Pumbaa, I didn't know about Scar being involved. I thought they were the most evil creatures in existence. I spent nights dreaming about them, how when I was grown up I would kill them." Simba sighed.

"Do you believe that killing your foes solves the problem?" Mufasa asked.

"What do you mean?"

"When I died, my brother thought he had won. Then you returned to take my place. After my brother himself died I have seen a new threat emerge with Zira and the Outlanders. Both those examples show that killing a foe will not cause harmony for the killer. The only sure way to destroy an enemy is to befriend them." Mufasa said.

"I'm not sure if I'd want to be friends with Scar."

"That was my fault, Simba. If I had shown my brother more respect growing up, perhaps things may have been different. But now you have a chance to forgive your enemies. Any king can order their foe dead, but only a great one can move on from the past and embrace a former foe as a friend. This is something you must learn to do, my son." Mufasa's image began to fade as he finished his words.

"No don't go, father." Simba begged but the ground beneath his feet gave way and Simba fell into an abyss.

…

Simba awoke to find Rafiki humming to himself, casually eating a chunk of fruit. "Ah!" He said with his mouth full, spotting Simba's eyes opening. "I am sure things are much clearer now, yes?"

"I… yeah." Simba got to his feet. "Was that real?" He asked Rafiki.

"Of course it was real. It happened, didn't it?" He chuckled before Simba could reply. "Now then I believe it is time."

"For what?" Simba asked.

"For you to get out of my tree." Rafiki chuckled and gave Simba a sudden push, knocking the lion to the ground with a loud thump.

"Ouch." Was all Simba could say as he shook himself, sending twigs and leaves scattering in the air.

"There you are." Nala said as she ran over to him. "You had me worried for a moment. I thought maybe I had only dreamed that we found you."

"Hey, I couldn't sleep so I went to see Rafiki." Simba told her.

"And?"

"I think he's going senile." He muttered feeling the bump from where Rafiki had pushed him from the tree. "There's something I have to do." He told her.

"Simba, is this about the hyenas?" She asked.

"Yes, I've got to help."

"I thought we'd been over this." She sighed.

"I know but this is something I have to do. I'm sorry." He said to her.

"Fine. If you must. You've had a while to think about it and as you still feel that way, I won't stop you." Nala said.

"Thank you." He nodded and started to run toward the Outlands. "I'll be back in one piece, I promise." He called back to her.

"You'd better or I'll kill you myself." She replied. Simba smiled and only hoped he wasn't too late for Shenzi and Banzai.

...

(A/N)_ Such wise words, hope i captured the essence of Mufasa and Rafiki all right in part. Sorry this part is only about half the length of other parts, ore or less, but I think that was all that was needed, I cut bits because I felt it was dragging on slightly. Reviewing would be nice my dear readers :)_


	9. Ending

Shenzi waited in the grass for her opportunity to strike. She'd been waiting a great deal of time for this opportunity to present itself. A cool breeze soothed her slightly, she'd been on edge. If what Vitani told her was true, which Shenzi held doubts, this was the best way in. The only reason she held any hope to the cub's information was that she seemed to connect with Banzai earlier.

She almost jumped out of her fur when a voice whispered in her ear. "Hey, miss me?"

She had to put her own paw to stop herself screaming in surprise. "Simba? That you?"

"The one and only." He smiled down on her, never looking more magnificent to her than in that moment.

"You… why'd you come back for us?" She asked.

"I realised something, it's like my friend Timon says 'you've got to put your past behind you'. You and Banzai got me out of the exiled lands and now I'm getting you out of the Outlands." Simba said looking over at the termite mound.

She nodded up at him. "I… thanks." Unsure if she should be grateful for his return or angry for him leaving.

"So what's the plan?" He asked.

"If my information is good, they'll be a patrol coming out of that little gap in the ground. When that happens we can dive in undetected. Banzai should be in the bottom chamber, apparently that is where Zira keeps prisoners. We just keep going downwards and then we'll find him. We set him free and run to the exit." Shenzi explained.

"Rough plan." Simba said.

"You got anything better?"

"Kinda." He smiled. "Nala agreed to help. I was going to go it alone but she came after me with an idea. She'll be distracting them outside. I don't think they shall pass up the chance to get the Queen, do you?"

"No, I don't think they would. So while most of them are off hunting her…"

"We get an easier time inside." Simba nodded.

"That girls braver than I thought." Shenzi smiled. As if on cue a large group of lionesses ran out snarling, heading for Nala's last known location.

"Hope she'll be OK…" Simba glanced backward at the Outsiders.

"She'll be fine, let's get Banzai." Shenzi said, dashing for the partially concealed exit where the lionesses had just left from.

…

The inside of Zira's lair was dank and depressing. Insects scrambled beneath their feet, looking to either escape or bask in the moonlight Simba and Shenzi had let in. The air felt much cooler inside than out and that was clear through a sudden chill taking hold upon the pair as soon as they entered. Bones littered the floors and an overpowering stench of death floated down the tunnels. It all created an atmosphere of despair. It took them a moment for their eyes to adjust to the darkness so they stepped carefully.

"Remember, down." Shenzi whispered.

"Yep." Simba said, trying to avoid excessive conversation which might attract unnecessary attention.

Shenzi gave him a quick tap and made eye signals towards a small piece of light on their left. The two crawled there to look down upon what could only be described as a throne room. Sitting on the throne was a small male cub with dark markings. He actually looked rather afraid. Around him were some more familiar faces, Zira was pacing and muttering to herself, the adolescent Nuka was chewing his claws, he actually had a few new scratches and Simba had a horrible feeling that they'd been inflicted by his mother, the female cub Vitani kept looking around and seemed fixated by the only non-lion in the room. The scarred baboon from earlier was breathing deeply, looking slightly troubled.

"Oh if she's out there then so is he." Zira was saying.

"Are you certain that your eyes have seen his bride?" The baboon asked her.

"Of course, everyone knows the price of lying to me." She shot Nuka a deadly look and he flinched slightly, Simba felt a jolt of sympathy for the lion who was hardly older than a cub.

"Can… can I say something?" The cub in the throne asked.

"Yes you may, my sweet child, my dear little Kovu." Zira said, it was such a strange shift in emotion. She'd gone from steaming one moment to being full of affection the next.

"She's psychotic." Shenzi said, shaking her head. Simba agreed. "Psychotic and she has Banzai, we have to move."

"Wait, I don't know that cub, that Kovu. Why is she treating him differently?" Simba asked.

"I dunno, never seen him before." Shenzi shrugged.

"He's not Scar's son?"

"Nope. Scar died before he could have any more cubs." Shenzi said. Simba grunted with acknowledgement but kept his eyes on the scene in front of them. He'd missed what the cub said but Zira was lavishing praise on him for it, it was like her other children didn't exist. "Come on, I'm through waiting around." She said watching Vitani leave the room unnoticed. Simba and Shenzi went deeper and deeper into the lair and it got colder and colder. Eventually they found what they were looking for. Banzai the hyena was asleep in a pit. He wouldn't be able to crawl out of it, not by himself.

"The stick, use the stick." Came a voice from behind. Simba turned to see Vitani standing next to a large stick.

"Banzai wake up!" Shenzi wasn't sure if she should shout or whisper.

"I am awake, wait just one moment." He grumbled.

"Banzai, we're here to save you. Get up." Shenzi hissed at him.

"Wha… Shenzi?" He looked up at her and then scrambled to his feet. "Shenzi! You came for me!"

"Well durr, did you think I'd leave you here?" She smiled at him.

"If mother finds out…" Vitani began muttering.

"Here, grab this." Simba said, holding the stick in his jaws. He lowered the stick down to Banzai who grasped the other end and Simba managed to assist his climb.

"Hey you came too." Banzai greeted Simba. A rumble came from above.

"Zira is coming." Shenzi gasped. Vitani gave a small whimper. Zira stepped into the chamber flanked by the baboon and one other unknown outsider.

"Well, you came back for the vermin. Take him, having you instead is a good trade." Zira snarled and stepped forward to Simba.

"Hold it lady." Shenzi shouted and held Vitani with her paw. "Step closer and your little girl gets it."

Zira paused, she looked slightly concerned but nowhere close to level a parent should be by their child being threatened. "I'd rather you shed Nuka's blood but he's not here, I am willing to sacrifice her for justice, for Scar. I have been training her to die for our cause, it just comes earlier than I had anticipated." Zira resumed her advance toward an appalled Simba.

"You'd let her die?" Simba gasped.

"If need be, I'd rather avoid it but if her blood must be shed then so be it." The lioness snarled.

"Damn it." Was all Shenzi said and she released Vitani, who scrambled into the shadows.

The Outsider beside Zira roared and pounced at Simba, all he did was dodge and she feel into the pit where Banzai had been held. "Now!" Simba yelled as he kicked dust in Zira's face then landed a heavy swipe on her flank. She began slashing blindly all around her, the hyenas slipped past her, Banzai taking a slight scratch on his rear end, and Simba managed to barge through to join them. The baboon's eyes widened in fear and he turned tail and ran.

"Do you remember the way out?" Banzai asked them.

"I think so." Shenzi replied.

"You think so?" Banzai repeated as they ran through the tunnels.

"Sure, just err… uh oh." They skidded to a halt as the baboon turned around with a wicked grin with another pair of Outsider lionesses blocking their path.

"Kill them." The baboon screamed and the lionesses roared.

"This way." Simba shouted as he ran into an opening on their left. They found themselves in the throne room they'd seen before. The cub was still perched up on the throne and Nuka was skulking in the background, he screamed when Simba entered. A small glimmer of moonlight shone directly onto Kovu from a hole in the roof.

Kovu sprang to his feet "Who are you?" He asked.

"The enemy." Zira said as she entered with the baboon and the two lionesses from earlier, it seemed she'd left the first one in the pit. "Kovu, this is Simba. This is the one who killed Scar."

"You… You're Simba?" Kovu asked as he tried to make himself look as small as possible.

"It was an accident." Simba protested.

"Liar." Zira hissed.

The hyenas looked at one another. "I think you care about the boy, Zira." Shenzi said as she ran toward Kovu. "You may leave Vitani but little Kovu is another story." She cackled as she dived onto the cub.

Zira screeched as Kovu yelped under Shenzi's strength. Simba wasn't entirely sure what to do here. He wouldn't let Shenzi kill the cub but a hostage seemed the only way out of this dead end.

"Let him go." Zira snarled.

"If you let us go." Shenzi said.

"You and the other hyena may go but not Simba." She said flexing her claws.

Shenzi considered this for a moment. "Deal." She said edging her way to the only exit with Kovu whimpering beside her. Simba felt his heart sink, this was it then. He looked around, Zira and the Outsiders were closing in on him and from behind Nuka was attempting to sneak up on him. Simba instinctively went for the high ground, determined to go out fighting. The hyenas were on the exit now, right next to the baboon and for the briefest of moments Shenzi whispered something to the baboon. He looked enraged and attempted to strike her across the face but she blocked it using Kovu himself as her shield. The poor cub was thrown across the room and Zira spun around. All she'd seen was the baboon hitting Kovu and the baboon knew it. His face fell from outraged to terrified in the blink of an eye. Zira roared louder than Simba had ever heard her and he took that moment.

"Let's go!" Banzai said whilst head-butting the baboon closer to Zira. Simba ran the fastest he'd ran for a very long time as he flew toward the exit, following the hyenas.

"I thought you guys were going to leave me." He said.

"Naa still might need you later." Shenzi said with a mischievous grin. The baboon's screams echoed through the corridors sending shivers down Simba's spine.

"Don't let him get away!" Zira was screaming hysterically followed by a series of roars.

"I see the surface." Banzai said huffing while he did so and the three dashed out of the termite mound. The chase continued though and Zira was determined to catch and kill them. It lasted until they reached the river separating the outlands from the Pridelands.

"Jump now!" He shouted and leapt across the river just managing to scramble his way up. Zira screamed again as her quarry escaped.

"You think this border will stop me?" She hissed.

"No, but they might." Simba made a gesture behind him, toward a large gang of various animals, some were part of Simba's pride, and others were a mismatch of other predators like cheetahs or strong herbivores like Rhinos, all of them looked ready for a fight. "It's good to be king." Simba said, giving Zira a daring smile.

Zira paced the boundaries for a few long minutes. "This is not over. You will fall and Kovu will rise." She spat, before giving him one last murderous stare and skulked off back to her lair.

"Sooo, what happens now?" Banzai asked.

…

Shenzi stood atop pride rock. The wind was blowing her fur left and right but she'd hardly noticed. In spite of how she wanted to feel she was scared. She wanted to brush this off, to think nothing of what Simba would say when he finally emerged from the cave. She looked down at her friends. Banzai gave her an encouraging smile while Ed rotated his head like an owl and chuckled. She chanced a look upwards towards the sky. There wasn't a cloud in sight and the sun's rays shone down unobstructed, yet it wasn't like being stuck in an unbearable heat, it was relaxing. She heard movement from the lion's cave and spun to attention. Simba was coming out, along with that irritating bird Shenzi never liked.

"It wasn't easy but I think we can do it." Simba said with a warm smile.

"Really? I… we can?" Shenzi couldn't quite believe it could be true, something like this happening now, after everything that happened.

"It came against my recommendations but a compromise has been made." Zazu said with a hint of distain in his voice but Shenzi didn't really care what bird brain thought.

"Your clan is permitted access to the Pridelands and has hunting rights here." Simba said. "You are not yet full members of my kingdom however and will be under surveillance." Simba continued with a much less formal tone. "I'm asking to trust you guys now. You saved my life."

"After putting it in danger in the past." Zazu muttered.

Simba continued as if there had been no interruption. "Then Rafiki helped Ed recover from his sickness."

"Now he knows not to eat that weird purple plant, right Ed?" Banzai nudged Ed who sadly nodded.

"What I'm doing has really split opinions around here so you need to show everyone in the Pridelands that you can be behave."

"Be good little hyenas now, got it." Shenzi nodded. "Never thought I'd be saying this but thank you. Thanks for everything." Shenzi hopped down the rock face back toward Banzai and Ed.

"You're welcome." Simba called after them.

Shenzi felt like a massive weight was lifted from her shoulders. They were free to do as they pleased, within reason. She'd have to restrain her darker more violent side now but it was a price she was more than happy to pay. She snorted at Banzai when she reached the two hyenas. "You wanted to eat him."

Rafiki watched with great interest as the hyenas wandered off to inform the rest of the clan of the decision made. He chuckled and retreated back to his tree. "Well, Mufasa." He addressed the painting of his dear friend and former king. "It appears to have worked. I doubt it will be entirely peaceful the odd shake here and there is to be expected, yes?" He chuckled again and began making changes to the hyena portraits on the tree. He briefly considered moving them away from Scar and placing them with other animals included in the Pridelands but he would wait and see for that. "Your boy is everything I had hoped him to be." Rafiki said and leaned against one of the paintings. "Oh no." he gasped realising he may smudged it and accidently 'killing' someone who was still alive. "Sorry Kovu." He said and began to clean up the picture of Zira's youngest and most loved cub. "Kovu." He muttered again in deep thought. "Hmm I think Simba may have learned a very important lesson for the future indeed." He said admiring the paintings of Kovu and the Outsiders, maybe one day he will welcome you too." Rafiki began to hum to himself.

...

(A/N)_ and that is the end. Thank you to all those who have reviewed and those who haven't I would encourage you to do so. Pleeease? I did enjoy writing this and so far all feedback has been positive, it really encourages me to know there are people who enjoyed what I wrote (Take that Primary school English teacher!)_

_Again thank you guys :D_


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